Governor John Hickenlooper all but says that he will veto two bills passed in the state legislature banning or potentially limiting the use of automatic traffic cameras. Speeding is unsafe, the governor says. Studies show that speed is implicated in a high percentage of accidents, he notes.If you dont want a speeding ticket, dont speed! the governor says.
It sounds like an unassailable argument.
It isnt.
And not just because it takes the traffic regulations out of the hands of voters in local jurisdictions.
And not just because these traffic cameras have been devised by certain small jurisdictions to be a major revenue source for the municipality a tax, in effect, not a traffic measure.
No, on traffic and safety criteria alone the governors argument fails. Here are three reasons why, from the minor to the major:
First, the cameras issue tickets for going one single inch over the crosswalk. For example, the corner of 6th Ave. and Speer Blvd. For going one inch over the cross walk, a ticket is issued, yet no red right has been run. No speed limit has been exceeded. No unsafe driving has occurred.
Since no driver can see in a precise way the exact alignment of the front of his car with a cross walk, the only way to avoid the traffic camera flash at the cross walk is to stop way in front of the line. Minimally, this backs up traffic and annoys other drivers. Maximally, this means stopping more quickly than necessary, increasing the chances of rear end collision.
There is absolutely nothing in issuance of tickets for marginally exceeding a cross walk that pertains to pedestrian safety; and there is potentially an increase in driver annoyance or the possibility of a collision.
Second, these traffic cameras fight gravity, not speeding. These cameras are placed in the middle of hills, when cars, without any effort to speed, go a little faster just a little, but enough to trigger the traffic camera ticket.
For example, look at Alameda Ave. between South Holly St. and South Monaco, going east. From Holly, the street descends. Its a downward hill. The traffic camera is always placed in the midst of the descent, never further down, where the street levels off as does the speed. Remember, it only takes a slight increase in speed to trigger the camera. I invite Gov. Hickenlooper himself to drive east from Holly to Monaco on the busy Alameda Ave. and see just how dangerous it is i.e., how not dangerous it is to go down that street in the rush of traffic a couple of miles above the limit. By placing the camera on the descent rather than on the flat ground a couple of blocks later, this is just a speed trap, nothing else.
The real speeders would be stopped by placing the cameras further on, on flat level, not higher on the hill. These are the drivers deliberately coming too fast down the hill, not coasting a mile or two above the limit. To place the traffic camera at the end of the hill, however, would not yield as much revenue. Bottom line, here is a speed trap, pure and simple, not a safety measure.
Third, some of these traffic cameras are not subtle speed traps, as on Alameda Ave., but out and out speed traps. For example, 1st Ave. west of University Blvd. before the street bends into Speer Blvd. one-half or three-quarters of a mile away.
Due to the island dividing the east-west traffic, there is no cross traffic in this stretch. None. Yet, the speed limit is an artificially low 30 mph.
Compare this to the much more vulnerable and dangerous stretch on South Monaco in front of George Washington High School. Its an area with hundreds of students and some cross traffic, yet the speed limit there is 35 mph.
So, going down 1st Ave. the camera flashes a car on a street with an artificially low speed limit. Thats a classic speed trap. Nothing to do with traffic safety.
The governor talks about the danger of running red lights. In the second and third examples above, the traffic cameras are not even placed at red lights. Theyre strictly revenue producers, cleverly manipulated by camera placement or by an artificially low speed limit.
Thats why Governor Hickenlooper should sign these bills. They would remove the cynicism on the part of the citizenry at the government for hypocritically talking in terms of traffic safety but acting with design to maximize revenue by placing traffic cameras in places where little or no safety issues are involved.
Rabbi Hillel Goldberg may be reached at hillel@ijn.com.
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