Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site iitcs.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!tektronix!uw-beaver!cornell!vax135!houxm!ihnp4!iitcs!draughn 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