Wednesday, April 15, 2009

I just don't get it....

I wasn’t going to post today, but I can’t help it. This has always bothered me.

There is an article in the newspaper today under the headline: “Cameras allowed to catch speeders close to schools”. I’m sorry - I never have understood this speed camera controversy. Let’s see if I have this straight. The law says that the speed limit is (for the sake of argument) 45 Mph, so if you’re going faster than that (whether you agree with the limit or not) you are breaking the law. Period. Breaking the law. We are not supposed to break laws. So why then, every time a municipality puts up cameras do people rise up in righteous indignation? Big brother is often mentioned. Other complaints are that it doesn’t help safety it’s just a “cash cow” providing a windfall for the community. Okay, fine. That should be good thing one would think.

I can’t help but think that the real reason is that some people feel that they have an inaliable right to exceed the speed limit, and by good gosh, I’m smart enough not to get caught. It’s my right. Nobody can tell me what to do. Radar detectors are rampant to avoid getting “caught”. “Damn it, why should I have to slow down?” Simple truth: if people obeyed the law, it would be moot. No tickets, no fines, no cows of cash, the whole thing goes away. Not only that, the thing doesn’t nab you unless you’re going more than 12 miles over the limit (a whole new argument there)! So, Jeff Burton, if you see the evil camera, knock that speed down to only breaking the law by 10 mph. Gee, maybe there won’t be as many accidents.

Get those taxes in, but don’t speed doing it!!

DFD (dinner, not driving)

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