UPDATE:
03/29/2011 Senate • Favorable by Transportation; YEAS 4 NAYS 2
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SB-672 hits the Senate floor today at 1:00 pm. This Bill bans red-light cameras in the State of Florida. On two occasions, Lake Worth said "no" to red-light cameras and they made the right decision. It's all about the money and even most of that goes to the red-light camera company and to the State, not to us.
The Finance Advisory Board's charge is to find ways to increase revenue and red-light cameras have been brought up again. They can throw this one back on the table tonight but it will not stick. Even this Board knows that it was going to cost Lake Worth right under $300,000 a year to rent the cameras on a 5 year contract with NO guarantees of enough revenue to pay for the lease. No sense in spinning wheels here. Hopefully SB-672 will be passed today by Committee and we can move on to a full Senate vote.
1. Red light cameras deny basic constitutional and due process protections such as the right to be presumed innocent, the right to a trial, the right to confront your accuser and proper notification.
2. Red light cameras cause more accidents, injuries and fatalities. They increase traffic congestion and change driving behavior.
3. Studies show that increasing amber time by 1 second can reduce violations by 60 percent or more in many cases.
4. Red light cameras raise revenue by punishing technical foul violations such as right turn on red violations and split second entries into the red light which rarely cause an accident.
5. Red light cameras are a menace to our constitutional rights, our pocketbooks and to public safety. They must be removed from our roads. Source: The Constitution Committee
6. The only one who makes out is the red-light camera company.
So there IS someone up there with common sense.... and something other than snot for brains.
ReplyDeleteThis type of punitive action always hurts the poor working class or retiree ten times harder than someone of means. If the owner wasn't driving his or her car when it happens, how is that fair? What if it's a company truck?
Imagine someone who lives paycheck to paycheck gets a letter in the mail that due to his proximity to the intersection when the light turned red just cost him grocery money for a week. $165 minimum.
And it does diddly for the idiot who texts while driving and broadsides someone.