You’d think that automating something would make it less prone to human error and, for the most part, you’d be correct. But even an automated process will still require some level of human intervention at one or more stages, so the whole thing can come apart if the person in charge of that messes up. Take this as a bit of foreshadowing related to the absurd situation Colorado’s traffic authorities are currently finding themselves in.
It can all be traced back to the state’s automated speed cameras on a very particular stretch of road, and it’s a very costly blunder, indeed. Colorado will now have to refund north of $1 million in speeding tickets as a result, all because someone didn’t do their job properly. And we imagine said individual is in a world of trouble, but what happened here more specifically?
When Machines Do What They’re Supposed To, But Humans Don’t
All this took place along a three-mile stretch of Interstate 25 in Pueblo, Colorado, from Indiana Avenue to 13th Street. The cameras were set up to catch speeding drivers in a construction zone, which had crucially moved along the road as work progressed. Speed limit signs were put in place and the cameras followed the construction site as it relocated to a new area.
So far, so good. The traffic monitoring devices worked as intended and caught thousands of speeding drivers in the act, tickets were issued by authorities, and everything seemed fine at first. But there was just one major problem that would end up bringing the whole matter to a screeching halt, and it wasn’t necessarily related to the cameras themselves.
How Did It All Come Apart In The End?
In an unexpected and somewhat comical turn of events, it was discovered that no one updated the relevant paperwork with the construction site’s location as it changed. So, legally speaking, the areas recorded on the speeding tickets didn’t match what was written on said documents, which means a lot of drivers have just dodged some nasty fines…