Thursday, February 7, 2002
Speed cameras
expose bad lawsThere are good reasons and bad reasons to get rid of the traffic cameras. Either way, they have raised issues our lawmakers have ignored.
Many complain the system isn't fair. What's fair if a police officer singles you out from among all the other speeders and you don't have the clout to weasel out of the ticket?
Both methods of enforcement can be arbitrary. Demonizing the traffic cameras just gives our lawmakers an excuse to ignore bad laws, or to make bad laws worse. Under one plan, a 15 mph speeding violation cited by a police officer would go on a driver's record, but a 15 mph violation given by a camera would not. That's not legislation, that's gibberish.
The real problem is that speed traps are unfair. Another is that limits are so low that you get abused for complying with them. And speeders in our neighborhoods are far scarier than speeders on our highways.
Those are the real lessons of the traffic cameras. Those are the real problems our legislators and bureaucrats need to address, whether the cameras stay or go.
--Stephanie Kendrick