A Tennessee state representative is telling residents of his state not to pay traffic camera tickets, underscoring his message by posting a video of him burning a ticket he received.
"What do you do if you get one? Throw it in the trash. Personally, I prefer to burn mine," Republican Rep. Andy Holt said on the lengthy video posted to his Facebook page.
Holt spent a few minutes explaining and showing the citation he received in the mail, along with follow-up delinquent notices and two notices from a collections agency.
"What happens after that? This," Holt said, holding up his empty hands. "Nothing. I want to be real clear: the only power that these camera companies have is their coercive words and things that they want to intimidate you with. There is nothing here that's enforceable, there is nothing here that [says] anything can affect your credit score, can affect your driver's license points. It cannot affect your insurance rights because this is not a real citation.
"My suggestion," he said as he lit the stack of notices on fire, "is just right here. That's what I think about these items, and what I think that everyone should do when you receive one. That's my personal opinion."
Holt dropped the stack of flaming papers presumably in a metal trash can, and then said to someone off camera, "Maybe we should get some water on that."
"My suggestion is throw them in the trash, burn them, do whatever you want to dispel these notions that you are now subject to say pay this penalty plus all the other ensuing documents that they sent, talking about delinquent payments and everything else," he said. "It is guilt until proven innocent."
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