US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s plan to ‘promote speed safety cameras’ is raising the troubling specter of ubiquitous automated traffic enforcement in the style of the UK, where the cameras are widely despised.
Buttigieg’s 42-page plan road safety plan unveiled on Thursday and backed by $14 billion in funding from the new infrastructure bill, contained only brief mention of the speed camera plan, but it was enough to set alarm bells ringing for worried motorists.
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Buttigieg’s strategy recommends pilot programs to study and promote greater use of speed cameras, which he says could provide more ‘equitable’ enforcement than police traffic stops, as the cameras will have no awareness of the race of the driver.
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‘They have done nothing for road safety, but are catching hundreds of thousands of drivers of which the majority are otherwise driving safely.’
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However, Hampshire Police revealed last year that the camera has been recording ‘incorrect readings’ for vehicles with a ‘high flat rear’ and at least two drivers have been able to prove they were wrongly caught by the camera so far.
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Interestingly a 2013 study by the RAC (Royal Automobile Club) Foundation highlighted how cameras in some areas had actually caused accidents rather than preventing them.
A total of 21 camera sites had shown data where collision rates had risen ‘markedly’ since cameras were put in place.
I wonder how much Mama Buttigieg is getting paid under the table to promote this?
Red light and speed camera companies are notorious for bribing government officials, especially in the Chicagoland area.
There’s lots of high-speed driving in Milwaukee and a lot of fatalities resulting from that driving.
Assuming that the ‘speed cams’ will be in Milwaukee*, what they will catch is stolen vehicles being driven by people who do not have a driver’s license.
Following the custom in Milwaukee “courts,” those drivers will be told that their license is suspended and they are very, very, bad boys. They will then be released to carjack or steal more cars and drive 30-60MPH over the limits. Again.
And what will Buttplug do about the tollway in Chicago, where it’s common to drive 20++ MPH over the limit of 55? Arrest everybody? Even the cops run at 20++ over the limit down there.
*Speed cams have been described as raaaaaaayyyyycissssss, so there’s no assurance they will be deployed in Milwaukee.
As Johnny Carson once said, they change tires on the LA freeways while going 85 mph.
Since this a transportation post…
It was great to see the truckers peacefully protest the vaccine mandates and then see Bkack Face Trudeau break out of quarantine and run away faster than Queen Lying Karen Le Roi runs away from a debate.
And that is in Canada, from BC to Ottawa. Of course, much of the mainstream press either didn’t report it or made the truckers look like idiots. Fortunately, they know about science than the fake doctor Fauci.
Reports are coming out that Trudeau has tested positive for Covid. Double shot, boostered, and positive.
I heard it was one of his kids but if got it, that would be beautiful Karma.
Meanwhile the tin pot dictators of California were caught again, inside the football stadium in LA, where there is a mask mandate and they were smiling for pictures, rules for thee nut not for me.
And what this does is cheapen tge seriousness of the the Chinese virus for many people.
> Of course, much of the mainstream press either didn’t report it or made the truckers look like idiots.
https://i.redd.it/ek7rt9825we81.jpg
Reports are coming out that Trudeau has tested positive for Covid.
That’s Trudeau’s excuse for running away and hiding from the Big Mean Trucker Monsters.
>That’s Trudeau’s excuse for running away and hiding from the Big Mean Trucker Monsters.
https://liar.com has all the details on him.
Damn Jason, you should get the purple heart of conservatives for reading that cartoon.