Public Safety Or Revenue

Whenever a red light or speed camera is installed the local government tells us it is for the safety of the driving public. The cameras will decrease accidents and will make people drive more safely. It is hard to say one way or the other if the cameras reduce accidents but one thing is clear, they increase revenue and that is the real reason for having them.

The government claims that the cameras are for safety and revenue is not a concern but when red light cameras stop producing revenue or the amount drops drastically the cameras are moved to another location. If safety was the first concern then the cameras would not be moved. This has happened in the People’s Republic of Maryland.

In Maryland they also leave the speed cameras in construction zones. The cameras, designed to keep speed down to protect construction workers, are left on all the time including the many hours that construction workers are not present. The stated purpose is to protect construction workers but the real purpose is to increase revenue.

These cameras are multiplying in the state of Maryland and they are multiplying for one reason, to increase revenue. Government is very good at starting a program and then increasing the scope of the program to further encroach into our lives. Seat belt laws were once a secondary offense but after a while they became a primary offense. This is now happening in Baltimore County. Speed cameras were placed near schools in order to keep the speed down and children safe.

Now that people are driving slower in these areas the government has decided that it will start using more cameras and they will be moved from one location to another.

It is not about safety, it is about revenue.

I just wish they would stop pretending they care about safety and tell us the real goal, raising money.

Cave Canem!
Never surrender, never submit.
Big Dog

Gunline

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3 Responses to “Public Safety Or Revenue”

  1. Barbara Orla says:

    I think the cameras serve both purposes; however the camera that concerns me now is the one placed before the red light in the medium strip. It takes pictures of your tag. It’s supposed to help them nab different types of criminal or warrant activity, but later, more info will be added to the database or wherever they keep the info. This is not good and really an infringement on our rights.

    • Blake says:

      It’s Big Brother watching- don’t let anyone else say otherwise- that’s how they keep people in “jobs” they have them sit ontheir fat butts and wait for a red flag on a license plate to come up.
      Didn’t it interest anyone else at just HOW lucky some rookie officer gets at nabbing drugs in some anonymous car? You JUST KNOW that the cartels employ some of the best, safest, most cautious drivers- so how do they get caught?
      Easy- if some plate number keeps popping up along a drug route for a certain amount of time, they WILL be stopped for “suspicion”, and a drug dog will be brought in- same is true of human smugglers.
      This is a good thing, but the capacity for abuse of this system is a sneaky and pervasive thing.
      Get the wrong person in office, with few if any morals, and a narcisistic personality with delusions of grandeur, and you have… wait a minute- we already have one of those, don’t we?
      Oooops-

  2. Schatzee says:

    Actually I pass one of the cameras every night on my way either to or from work (depending on where they put it) in a construction zone. I’m sure it raises revenue as I’ve seen it go off a few times (can’t miss it in the dark – big flash) but I’m more concerned about the accidents it could cause when the idiots who see the flash decide to slam on their brakes and pray they don’t get busted. They probably know that it is somewhere along that corridor but wait until they are right up on it and go from 90 to 10 in a “flash” (pun intended). Very dangerous and annoying. Not to mention the whole thing makes me feel a “big brother is watching” kind of moment.