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From: draughn@iitcs.UUCP (Mark Draughn)
Newsgroups: net.auto,net.legal
Subject: Re: Radar Surveillance
Message-ID: <155@iitcs.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 12-Aug-85 20:32:13 EDT
Article-I.D.: iitcs.155
Posted: Mon Aug 12 20:32:13 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 21-Aug-85 05:49:36 EDT
References: <1081@homxa.UUCP> <4891@allegra.UUCP>
Reply-To: draughn@iitcs.UUCP (Mark draughn)
Organization: Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago Il.
Lines: 30
Xref: linus net.auto:6685 net.legal:1745
Summary: 

My gripe about radar surveillance is that it makes speed laws disproportionately
enforcible.  With the common use of traffic radar it has become possible for
a government to make large amounts of money from the enforcement of speed laws.
This makes it easy for me to question the sincerity of a legislator who
proposes tougher speed laws.

Another example of this is occuring in Chicago.  A while back there was some
discussion of de-criminalizing parking violations in the hope that more people
would pay their fines.  Hmmmm...  This turns illegal parking into merely
high-priced parking.

It isn't hard to imagine this happening with speed laws.  People
would be billed for speeding, without having marks placed on their record.
This way people would be able to speed if they were willing to pay the price.
Hmmmm... If I had a hot car I might be willing to spend maybe $500 in tickets
if it meant I could REALLY lead-foot it on the highways...

Actually, there is little incentive doing this because most people pay fines
on speeding because of the more stringent regulations regarding moving
violations.  On the other hand, in many places it is possible to ask for
supervision in which you pay the fine, but it doesn't make a black mark
on your record.

It's hard for a state or a county or a city to make money off of drunk driving
convictions, or off of a real driver education program that does more than
tell students to drive slow and don't change lanes.  Either of these measures
would do a better job of making the roads safe than an orgy of speeding
tickets does.

                                           Mark Draughn