Safety First?

Over the last couple of weeks, I have seen a lot of Internet "buzz" about traffic light cameras. I have already written a few articles about issues concerning "Big Brother" and the continuing erosion of our Constitutional rights already this month, but this one takes the cake. Many City Governments across our Nation have installed cameras atop traffic lights under the guise of safety, when in reality, they were meant for profit. Even if that were the entire story, some people (like me) would still object to yet another intrusion from Big Brother into our lives. The story does not end there. As it turns out there is evidence to support that the traffic cameras have improved safety at those intersections where they have been installed. This fact makes my argument against them more untenable. So why are so many City Governments shortening the "yellow light" or removing the cameras altogether? The answer is simple; because they were working......too well. This is proof that the original motive of installing the traffic cameras was for profit, not safety. While that fact may be all well and good, to say the hell with safety when the cameras were working over profit, is quite another story. This quote from the Dallas City manager sums it up; "Red light cameras do reduce accidents. That is a good thing ... But they do it by reducing red light violations, by as much as 29 percent from month to month at particularly busy Dallas intersections. ... City Manager Mary Suhm estimated last week that the city would fall short by more than $4 million. So last week, the city turned off about a quarter of the least profitable cameras, saying it couldn't’t justify the cost of running them." Many City Officials have openly admitted the same for one simple reason; no repercussions. We are living is an ever increasingly consequence free society where anything goes. It seems politicians don't even have to take the trouble to lie to us anymore.