While children were dreaming of candy canes and making 10-foot lists to dear old Santa Claus, I was receiving a ticket. With his radar gun, the state trooper caught me going 81 in a 70 mph zone on Interstate 75.

Prior to college, I had never received a ticket of any kind. Within my first semester at UT, I received one parking citation, one fire lane citation (I left my car unattended for 10 minutes - the ink was still wet on the ticket when I got out to my car), and one speeding ticket. I have yet to receive a ticket for running a red light, but with Murphy's Law kicking into high gear for the New Year, it is just a matter of time before I join the ranks of red-light offenders. 

New initiatives are occurring throughout Tennessee that require red-light cameras to be installed in more locations. In my hometown of Chattanooga, the 30-day grace period is over and many intersections with cameras have begun to give $50 citations instead of warnings. 

To err is to be human, and to err while driving is to be human.This trend has come to Knoxville.  Defense Attorney Roland Cowden received a citation for making a right on red, which is legal, but the captured video proves he did not stop before turning.  Cowden threw down the gauntlet and appealed the citation. The Knoxville News Sentinel said, Cowden wrote an appeal stating, "Such widespread and systematic surveillance (is) evidence that the nightmare age envisioned by George Orwell is now upon us in full force (and) cannot but have a chilling effect upon our freedoms of speech and peaceable assembly guaranteed by the First Amendment."  

Am I mistaken or is this "1984"?  I can understand Cowden's frustration on the matter. To err is to be human, and to err while driving is to be human. He who has never made a rolling stop can cast the first stone. I don't hear any pelting, or have I temporarily gone deaf? 

Should people be nervous that these cameras are recording more than your license tag?  No. This is the 20th century; Big Brother uses wire tapping and library cards to track your footsteps. Being watched by Big Brother is unavoidable, but getting a traffic violation is not. 

Police departments view these cameras as an aid to reduce intersection accidents. This is understandable. No one wants to be involved in a car accident, but no one wants to be ticketed either. The lesser of the two evils would still be a ticket. 

However, what are these cameras really doing? Cowden's argument lies in the fact that the camera is infringing upon civil liberties. Are these cameras capturing more than they should? 

While being ticketed for a rolling stop is senseless, running a red light is dangerous. People are paranoid. This all adds up to a tumultuous situation. Camera enforcement of laws can be necessary in certain areas that are known to be prone to intersection accidents.

However, because I keep receiving the Big Orange screw, I am not a fan.