Don’t ask me why, but against all evidence I continue in the belief that statists are rational beings who revere facts and proof. Ergo, if we present enough of each, they will realize how evil, conniving, and manipulative Leviathan is and forsake the beast.
To that end, Tom McCarey presents these arguments against traffic cameras:
British Road Fatalities and Injuries Rise Despite Cameras
The British speed camera enforcement policy has failed to reduce either road or road fatalities.
10 years of experience in Britain should be a wake-up call for pro-camera … legislators and speed camera profiteers. What … rationale, other than stealing money from safe drivers, could our esteemed public servants have in mind? Their constant drumbeat that “cameras save lives” has been proven false time after time, everywhere cameras are used.
UK Department for Transport statistics show that the number of fatalities on British roads has not dropped significantly, despite a record number of ticketing cameras used to enforce speed limits.
Non-fatal road injuries, despite the claims of police, have also risen according to a British Medical Journal (BMJ) study. By examining hospital records, the study found the road injury rate increased.
…
“We need to completely change the way we think about road safety,” said Mark McArthur-Christie, policy spokesman for the Association of British Drivers. “It simply cannot be imposed from the outside with humps, bumps, cameras and lower limits.”
Meanwhile, I spent the last few days visiting friends in the Midwest, where school busses clog the roads every morning and afternoon. The hapless drivers behind them must sit and wait each time the dang things stop to embark or disembark passengers — and since the passengers are kids, some of them too little to climb aboard speedily and older ones intent on goofing around, both are a slow process. One day around 3:30 PM, we were following two such abominations and halting every couple hundred feet with one or the other discharging the little darlings.
I watched this in amazement. As a resident of New York City, I can personally testify that Moscow-on-the-Hudson’s government is ubiquitous and in-your-face, but at least it doesn’t subject us to this annoyance. Most students use the same public transit everyone else does, and while I occasionally see a bus painted that nauseating yellow, it doesn’t seem to enjoy any special status in the bumper-to-bumper traffic.
As the minutes fled while little Amber and Troy ambled across the street, oblivious to the taxpayers patiently (or impatiently) waiting, I calculated the penalties for a private vehicle so cavalierly blocking the roads. Then I marvelled that revolution hasn’t long ago broken out over this single frustration, let alone any of the State’s actual atrocities. How do people tolerate these delays day after day? And I was merely visiting friends and relatives; what of those commuting to work or late for a meeting essential to their jobs?
Update: The inconvenience is even worse than I thought. I noticed the busses were stopping at virtually every house rather than a few scattered depots; I figured that was due to the rural nature of the area. Nope. Bob Petix informs me that dropping each kid at his door is now required. Where’s Moochelle the Mooch and her “Let’s Move” nonsense when we need it? And Wesley F. notes, “The logic behind traffic cameras is fallacious in the first place. What’s more of an incentive – run a red light at an intersection and get demolished by an eighteen-wheeler, or receive a $300 ticket? Certainly, if the former is not incentive enough to encourage safe driving, then the latter definitely will not. It’s a boondoggle.”
It sure is.
12:13 pm on December 9, 2014
