Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Red Light... Green Light

From the “we knew it all along” files, it seems Dallas, Texas officials have disconnected one-fourth of the now popular (among city officials that is) red light cameras they recently installed. Not because of technical issues, but because many of them failed to generate enough red light running fines to justify their cost.

Dallas Mayor Leppert stated: "The good news is it's having the effect everyone in this community wants: fewer red lights being run. The goal was not to make money on this, (where is Pinocchio when you need him??) but these are numbers and realities we'll have to deal with." He went on to say that despite this setback, he does not foresee reductions in the public safety budget, although the overall budget may not enjoy as much revenue, perhaps resulting in budget cuts elsewhere.

Huh??

Ok, cut through all the BS.. these damn things are to make $, not for safety. Admit it. You hoped to make a mint off the damn things, automatically sending tickets out with out tying up police and personnel. Mail out a bunch of tickets, then wait for the money to pour in.

But there is another side to this… are you ready?

I can't wait for the lawsuit from a wreck where one of these lights was placed and not used. Can you hear the lawyer whining “if the city had used the red light cameras they installed and issued tickets this wreck wouldn't have happened. The city is responsible for not using the technology they had installed and then disabled. They failed to provide a safe and effective form of law enforcement, causing my poor client all this pain, suffering and expenses. Two million should cover it.”

It is bound to happen. Meanwhile, savor a small victory, they won't give up yet.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Apparently these cameras are also causing their share of accidents - from people "stopping short" to avoid tickets.