This seems to be traffic month for me. My last column was about ambulance-chasing lawyers who annoy you with solicitation letters when you get a traffic ticket. This time, it’s “red-light” cameras, an example of modern technology showing its uglier side to motorists.

Red-light cameras are in use in 22 states and more than 200 cities nationwide. The cameras are mounted at the corners of intersections, often over the traffic lights themselves, where they are supposed to detect when a car has moved beyond a certain point and into the intersection. Wrap it all together with a computer, and you have a system that takes pictures of your car entering the intersection while the light is red.

Weeks later, this is followed by a friendly letter, containing a ticket for the registered owner of the car.

According to The Star-Ledger, at two intersections in Lilburn, Ga., the take has been $1.2 million over the last two years. That’s almost 20 percent of the town’s budget. Just from those blasted cameras.

Advocates claim that the cameras force drivers to be more careful and help avoid dangerous intersection accidents, but the statistics also show an increase in rear-end crashes by motorists slamming on the brakes to avoid being photographed as the light is changing. Drivers who might normally go through a yellow light will slam on their brakes instead.

Why do I bring this up? Bergen County state Sen. Joseph Coniglio (D-Dist. 38) has proposed red-light cameras, and his bill is working its way through the Senate to allow a pilot program to test the system.

These systems are pretty cheap to keep when you compare them to the human alternative. They work 24 hours a day, seven days a week — in all weather. They don’t need to be paid a salary or overtime, and they don’t eat doughnuts, drink coffee, and sit by the side of the road, just waiting to nail you. Once municipalities cover the cost of operating the system, all the rest is gravy.

Traffic tickets, while touted as a means of promoting traffic safety and law-abiding motorists, are a great big money machine for municipalities. We have all heard about ticket quotas imposed on police officers. Have you ever felt comfortable in traffic court? Don’t you get the feeling that if you take a plea to a reduced charge in a traffic matter, it’s really a way for the town to still make some money off of you?

It’s not law enforcement — it’s big business.

For instance, in New York City, hoards of ticket writers walk around all day just writing tickets. Their uniforms say “NYPD,” but then there is that “Traffic” patch sewn above it. They aren’t police, and they have no police powers. They just write tickets. Those tickets are handled not by the court system, but by the New York City Department of Finance, which uses a service that mails your notices out of a place called Dumfries, Va. You have no right to attend a hearing. You submit your side in writing, and they’ll let you know.

The “red-light” cameras are no more just. In those places that use it, the tickets are issued to the registered owners of the car, who then have the burden to show they weren’t behind the wheel at the time. So instead of the government having to prove your guilt, you have to prove your innocence. No police officer to actually witness your violation, stop you, and give you a summons. Just a camera on a pole.

And the consequences can be significant. In addition to fines and penalties, you win points on your driver’s license and higher insurance rates. And those points could eventually lead to a suspension of your driver’s license.

There is one very good reason why this legislation might not succeed, and perhaps why it should. That is because those cameras catch everyone, including those politicians and others who are used to special privileges when they are pulled over.

You’ve seen those license plates with the special state seals on them. They should photograph very nicely when the traffic cameras take their picture. Try flashing your badge or your PBA card to get out of that one!