The Newspaper steps up to the platform and says, “You must be joking son, haven’t we paid our dues?” (Steely Dan fans need apply). In other words, Maryland, Tennessee and Missouri are all contemplating adding highway speed cameras to their revenue generating highway safety schemes. “Officials from Maryland, Missouri and Tennessee joined Illinois Governor Rod R. Blagojevich (D) at a two-day event designed to promote the use of speed cameras on freeways throughout the country.” Although the Newspaper doesn’t tell us any more about this highway hoedown (‘ho down?), it does give us a heads-up on Illinois’ entirely predictable plan to extend speed cameras from their current construction work sites to the rest of the state’s highway network. The good news? The Newspaper reminds us that democracy knocked-down Connectitcut’s highway speed camera scheme, so the Prairie state’s plans may also get scuttled. And, with a bit of luck and a few of your emails, MD, TN and MO’s scameras may never see the light of day. Not that I’m not objective on this issue…
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We have redlight-running cameras at some intersections where I live, but no speed cameras yet. I’m still unclear on how they made the legal leap from ticketing a driver to a car. As the article said, they’re supposed to put points against a license. This is quite a jump in logic.
I don’t remember the actual numbers, but didn’t the accident rate actually go down after the national 55-mph speed limit was repealed in the 1990s? If that’s true, then speed doesn’t really kill–it’s more moronic drivers at least IMO.
They can save their breaths on how this is supposed to help safety. Bottom line–this is a cash cow, and it’s more Big Brother rights violations.
Revenue generating is right on. It’s not the issue of safety. Just as in my city, they use seat belt enforcement check points to write all kinds of additional tickets (the cops brag about it afterwards). Plus the interstate system is 55 mph around the city, but no one drives it. The average speed is 65 to 70 mph (including for the cops) and traffic moves well. But the city writes plenty of tickets as they can just point their radar guns at anytime and write a nice sized ticket (and they do).
Well what about safety as speed kills doesn’t it? Back in Colorado where I grew up, there was a lot of fear mongering about changing the highway speeds out of the cities from 65 mph to 75 mph back in the 90’s. More kids are going to die we were told by the state patrol! Well several years later, I read an article that indicated that since raising the speed limit, the number of deaths actually went down as more cars were driving similar speeds, and as well that the roads were able to handle more vehicles.
Man I hate this type of hype from states. This is just another step to automated cars.
Hey Government: The Boston Tea Party was/is considered a high point in American history. Do not make us create another high point over speeding cameras.
I would love to find these manufactures of these cameras, and shove their wares right up their asses.
A friend who was a city cop was told he need to write more tickets at the end of every month. Yet they could not tell him how many more he needed to write. So he would always make sure he wrote one traffic ticket every month. Never mind his large # of monthly felony arrests of real criminals.
I have NEVER seen anyone slowdown at the “45mph construction zone $375 minimum ticket” spots here in Chicago.
Has anyone?
Robstar:
I too never see anyone slow down, however there was an article in the sun times several weeks ago about the speeding in construction zones. With the fine+court fees+ something else I think the tickets ended up being about $600. And the thing is they enforce 45mph 24 hours a day, regardless of construction occurring or not.
The artcle about gov bad-hair wanting speed cameras: http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/blagojevich/1095739,CST-NWS-blago07.article
And the real kicker? “It would have to be egregious — 80 or 85 mph. We don’t know yet.” Well what’s the MOFO speed limit then?! 55mph or 85mph?!
I tell ya, I am getting extremely tired of the government coming up with new schemes to get more of our money. Forget living within their means or not signing up for ridiculous bonds they cannot pay for 20 years down the road, etc, I’m just tired of it. Frankly, I say that we are extremely close to a massive taxpayer/voter revolt in this country. This $700 bailout BS is leaving a real bad taste in people’s mouths….especially if it passes despite a large majority of Americans saying “no”….but hey, another instance where the government knows what’s best for us, right? Bad-Hair, Daley, and Stroger better watch their backs, or they could find them and all their friends and cronies booted to the curb.
Such schemes will just result in people covering license plates, and make criminals out of good people (think prohibition). Not to mention, nobody ever considered the value of time wasted by not traveling faster. How much does it hurt our economy? Oh, and how abou the poor? Can they be affording $400-$600 speeding tickets? Uh, no, they can’t afford a $50 parking ticket.
And this nanny-state BS is getting out of hand. Cameras everywhere. Fines for everything (and big fines), all covered up in the name of safety (look at bad-hairs scheme to use the revenue to put more cops on Chicago streets). Now Daley is pulling a BS fast one on restricting alcohol sales at bars aroud Wrigley, for clinch games? Sure its “voluntary” (the word voluntary doesn’t exist in Chicago), but the city pulling this out of the sky all of a sudden is an insult, even to those of us who won’t be near Wrigleyville or the south side.
I absolutely love Chicago. What it offers. The architecture, the restaurants, the walkability, the history. All that stuff. But I tell ya, a few more instances of the government putting their hand in our wallets and constantly watching us with cameras in an attempt to create a police state, and I’m outta here. Head right back to Idaho where I grew up. I know I’m welcome there, and I won’t have every last crook in the government looking to take from me. I’m willing to pay a bit extra for the parks and public works we have here, but I’m not about to continue to be fleeced for questionable parking tickets, 24 hour-notice tow zones, and now speed cameras. Not when the money is pissed away. Not when the government is bloated beyond belief. Not when I’m not getting anything except more government to come up with more ways to take my money and waste it on something worthless.
“You must be joking son, haven’t we paid our dues”
Where DID you get those shoes?
A band I was in covered Pretzel Logic. I loved playing and singing that tune.
“And the thing is they enforce 45mph 24 hours a day, regardless of construction occurring or not.”
I can attest to this fact. Got a ticket in dark hours of the a.m. in a Georgia ‘work zone’. Only cars on the road were me and the Trooper writing the ticket with a wry smile. Do they get bonuses for that sort of thing?
It seems that the photo radar vans in the Chicago area are doing a fine job of catching “violators”. However, when the cases get to court they are failing in a fantastic manner.
The Chicago Tribune did an article on this earlier this week. Pretty much 50% of all cases are simply dismissed. Virtually all of the rest are knocked down to a lesser violation.
So far this year there have been exactly ZERO convictions on the original $375 work zone speeding charge. In the last two years only about 5% of the photo cases for work zone violation were convicted of the original charge.
Here’s a link to the article.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/transportation/chi080929getaround_wgfx,0,4084414.htmlpage
When private greed becomes part of public service, this corrupts absolutely. Case in point: the drug forfeiture laws that used to be in place in Louisiana. Officers could seize your car and assets and never even charge you with a crime. The officers got incentives, namely the car they seized from you, for doing this. They finally took notice when 20/20 or Dateline did an expose on it and it cut into their tourism business back the mid-90s. They would get people who were doing nothing wrong, mainly out-of-staters who had a nice car like a Caddy or Lincoln. In the documentary, the driver from Dateline or 20/20 was going under the speed limit, yet still got stopped.
On the show there were many people who got their cars seized, never got charged with a crime, then had hell getting the cars back even after it was admitted that they were innocent of whatever they got accused of (but sometimes changed their tune when the TV reporters paid them a visit). I remember thinking, this is America. Can they do this?! Yes, they can do whatever the hell they want evidently.
I agree with fisher72. Since we’re the crime capital of the western world, you’d think they’d have more to do than worry about speeders.
Completely unsurprising in the case of MD. The Legislature voted in favor of red light and speed cameras, and only some squabbling about how to divvy up the pot of gold has delayed the latter. The previous governor, Bob Ehrlich (R), was against red light and speed cameras and vetoed bills creating them. But he lost re-election to O’Malley, a big proponent of cameras in 2006, and since then it’s been “send in the cameras.” Elections do have consequences.