Florida’s move toward legalizing cameras to catch red-light runners nears the long-dreamed of government trifecta. It promises to alienate voters in the name of safety — either lose money while doing it or raise so much more it’s gluttonous — all the while making the intersections more dangerous in direct conflict with the stated goal.It is government at its best.
It’s a bold step for the Sunshine State, but a necessary one to negate any positive public feelings generated when the state somehow managed to rank 14th nationwide as it goes to education.
It is so complex that it is designed for failure, an attractive feature for our state politicians it seems. Keeping people agitated over minor things like tickets for running red lights keeps them from getting too riled up about real issues, such as property tax reform.
Here’s how it works:
- First, the state decides it is a public safety issue, while at the same time once again reminding the populace that driving is a privilege, not a right.
- Second, ever-popular Gov. Charlie Crist throws his support behind it in an attempt to bring his approval ratings down, a feat not possible in the Panhandle.
- Third, promise that the program will pay for itself and only punish those who “have something to hide,” while at the same time promising it is not about generating revenue.
What is important is to rush everything through while no one is paying too close attention to the details.
Then let the fun begin.
As Viewpoints Editor Scott Kent noted in Wednesday’s News Herald, there is data that shows the placement of such devices seems directly proportional to an increase in wrecks at the intersections. Rear-end collisions, if you can imagine that.
Studies publicized by the National Motorists Association carry the same tale, as Australia, North Carolina, Virginia, Canada and Texas all found the same thing: wrecks increase where these cameras are placed. Still, as one official noted, the number of red-light running offenses drop. Mission accomplished.
So the public figures out that maybe, just maybe, it’s not all about safety.
It must be the revenue, right?
Kent pointed this out as well Wednesday, with an audit in Albuquerque revealing $10 million in gross revenues, or $5.8 million after expenses.
And it was found that in Lubbock, Texas, the city cut down the length of the yellow light, making it more likely you would run a run light, at intersections with the cameras.
Brave Lubbock officials went after their own trifecta: the number of wrecks increased, they rigged the lights, and they still lost money, which really agitates voters.
It would appear that in Florida, the aggravation factor of arbitrary roadblocks is not enough for officials. They are in need of additional ways to irritate a populace already feeling overgoverned, overtaxed and overdone.
With statistics working against their very own safety argument, they consider launching the latest government intrusion.
There is something to be said for the satisfaction of being ticketed for, say, speeding when you are finally caught by a law enforcement officer. It’s earned. Maybe it’s one of life’s little guilty pleasures, setting the cruise control for 59 mph in a 55 mph zone just because it feels a little naughty.
This is not to say that people should run red lights for the heck of it, but it is to say that every single infraction does not warrant a ticket when you are not even sure who was driving.
There are too many unknowns, with little way to make them known.
Who was driving the car? It doesn’t matter, say the lawmakers, you are responsible for who drives your car, and you pay the fine or lose your license.
Maybe it was an emergency situation. Prove it, government says.
Maybe it was a logistical or self-defense move; someone was right on your tail or you were fleeing an aggressive driver. Prove it, government says.
Or maybe government was a little overaggressive and rigged the light, and set the whole thing up knowing the entire system failed to make intersections elsewhere across the country any safer, and in fact made them more likely to cause wrecks.
Try proving that. They did in Lubbock.
