The fact that the Texas company gets a per ticket cut, ["Lawsuit eyes speed cameras," Feb. 3] on the speed camera catches (not legal in Maryland) is just one facet of how speed camera fines are unethical.

Even more important to the common citizen, in my opinion, is that when your car is caught on camera, you may be fined multiple times until you are even aware that you have sped at all. A citizen must be able to be aware that he has broken the law, especially at the first occurrence. Doesn't the state/county want to prevent further speeding, or is it just interested in giving, say, 14 speeding tickets in one week, theoretically, to the same unaware driver? This is money-oriented, not law-oriented enforcement.

One other issue is that the speed camera ticket goes on the record of the primary car owner. If the secondary car owner (probably the spouse) actually sped, why would a couple want to argue who actually sped in court? It is sort of a moot point and a waste of their time as there are no insurance points involved anyway.

Frederick Edelstein, Gaithersburg