Red Light Cameras Favored According To Surveys. Big Brother…Do You Like Them?

By: Don Caldwell


How much freedom are you willing to give up for the sake of safety?


Over the past few years you may have noticed all of those traffic cameras that have gone up in towns and cities across America. Local governments have been making a great deal of money off of these cameras, with some bringing in up to 2 million dollars for a single camera per year.


Some would argue the effect this has on safety, while others would argue how this has become an excuse for local governments to find additional ticketing revenue.


Excerpts italicized:


In order increase safety and reduce crashes at intersections, a number of cities have been using red light cameras to catch drivers who violate the law and run through them. This controversial practice has been called an invasion of privacy by some, but now a new survey found that there is high support from drivers for these efforts and fatalities in those cities have dropped.


The survey by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) found that two-thirds of drivers in 14 major cities who have red-light cameras support their use. This study is a follow up to the recent finding that these cameras have reduced fatal red-light-running crashes by 24 percent in the same cities.


Critics of the red-light cameras are quite vocal saying they are an invasion of privacy and that the cameras are meant to make more money for the cities, not increase safety.


More than a quarter of respondents said the cameras can make mistakes and some noted that they make the roads less safe. Voters in eight cities have rejected the cameras in the past three years.


Last year, IIHS noted that speeding and running red lights were the most important traffic safety issues that needed to be addressed to help reduce the deaths on America’s roads.

Benjamin Franklin once said “trade freedom for safety”


You can have either a society focusing on freedom or one that focuses on safety but not both. As we give greater power and responsibility to our governments to control the various aspects of our lives (health care, education, social security, etc.) we lose freedom in the process. Obviously complete freedom is a state of anarchy, but a people should keep in mind that by the time you realize you don’t have much freedom, it is probably a little too late to do much about it.  As it is always twice as hard to get something back once you’ve lost it than to have kept it in the first place.


Then you should question whether you would prefer to live in a free society or a socialist society. They both may be democratic, but only one has freedom.


Which do you choose?


P.S. One last thing of note. In New Jersey, the state recently did away with the annual “safety” aspect of bi-yearly car inspections. Where now the only aspect of one’s vehicle checked are of emissions. You could be driving a car with missing airbags, three wheels, and a missing seatbelt, but all that the state really cares about is if you are putting out too much carbon dioxide.


I am not saying that either is not important, but wouldn’t a greater emphasis be placed on driver safety…or is it the bottom line?

(ORIGINAL LINK) Support for big brother: Survey finds use of red light cameras favored