Traffic cameras that generate tickets should be banned nationwide. They have nothing to do with safety and are all about revenue.
ELMWOOD PLACE, Ohio - If you feel the need for speed, better steer clear of this Cincinnati-area village.
Since
installing two traffic cameras that record vehicle speed in September,
Elmwood Place has been issuing citations at a rapid pace: 6,600 in the
first month, or three times the number of village residents, with a
reported $1.5 million in fines overall so far.
It's not unusual
for newly installed traffic cameras to anger people when they first open
their mail to find photos, citation and a notice of the fine. But the
blitz of $105 citations has roiled this economically struggling village
for months. There have been petition drives, a councilman's asking the
mayor to resign, calls on Facebook and other social media to boycott the
village, and a lawsuit that alleges violations of constitutional
rights.[...]
Downs has owned St. Bernard Polishing Co.
for 25 years. His small business sits just yards from a camera that sits
where the speed limit drops to 25 mph from 35 mph. Big companies
including consumer products maker Procter & Gamble Co. and jams
maker J.M. Smucker Co. have facilities nearby. Police say as many as
18,000 vehicles a day pass through the one-third-square-mile village,
many of them on their way to an Interstate 75 ramp.
Downs said
one of his longtime customers has already vowed not to return after
getting speeding citations, and other customers are angry.
Another
plaintiff is the Rev. Chau Pham, whose Our Lady of Lavang Catholic
Community Church had some 70 parishioners -- more than half -- get
ticketed the day of a Sunday service in September. The church says the
cameras have scared away a third of its Vietnamese congregation, most of
whom come from out of town.
No comments:
Post a Comment