The Traffic Light Cam Scam Sham

One of the great municipal government scams is the effectiveness of the so called traffic light cam. This is one of the more widespread and odious scams because the idea is to generate revenue, and not enhance safety. The recent experience of Houston, where accidents have doubled at intersections guarded by a camera, is consistent with the universal experience that these controls cause accidents, and do not facilitate public safety. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6185795.html

The traffic light cam scam sham goes something like this: public sector budget managers wish to generate "revenue" for their municipalities without raising taxes. A municipality claims a balanced budget through anticipated increased fines, and without raising taxes. The taxation presented by hidden traffic cams is a form of "hidden" tax, much like fee hikes and other levies by the government which are not initially apparent, but disguised in some other form of expense, like a tariff levied on a public utility with respect to their use of easements, such as when a utility transmits and distributes eletricity over power lines or telephone poles and wires used by telecommunications companies to transmit information and data. These are fees which do not receive press coverage and are not readily understood by newspapers with writers who are unsophisticated (which would include most print media with the exception of the Wall Street Journal and the editorial board of the New York Post).

Indeed, the press appears to tolerate an amazing double talk from politicians. The politician - particularly if considered a liberal Democrat - is lauded for "holding the line on taxes" and for "running the government like a business," without informing the government is being run like a business which submerges "hidden profit centers and revenue streams." The incorrectly assessed parcel of real property would be one hidden profit center. The tax rate may not go up, but your assessed value may do so, and ultimately the tax you pay increases. The taxes on consumption that New York Governor Paterson proposed while running away to Iraq to play Santa Claus are also a form of not so hidden taxation, as the cost is ultimately passed onto the consumer. All of these brain fart ideas are enacted to justify optimistic revenue projections which are used to promote a "balanced budget."

The traffic cam scam is particularly odious because it implicates individual liberty. The bottom line is that the operator of a motor vehicle is confronted with an accusation by "an infallible" technology, one which cannot questioned. When the consumer has to appear in traffic court, she cannot cross examine a traffic light, even though the constitution affords us to the right to "confront" witnesses against us.

The accusation by the "infallible" camera could of course be based upon a partial ID of a plate or partial photograph, or could have been made of a vehicle which was stolen or not operated with the permission of the owner. And again, we have all of those crashes.... and all of those police officers who are hired to patrol our road ways who are the ones who should be making the stops, and protecting the public against dangerous drivers. Police officers who can be cross examined in traffic court. Indeed, it would seem that a politician or municipal manager could present themselves as a "budget hawk" with respect to refusing to maintain adequate levels of police staffing, in reliance upon the false security presented by the traffic cam.

Traffic cameras take both our lives and liberties. They are a dangerous and unnecessary technology which only serve the interests of dishonest politicians and public sector managers who do not want to make the tough decisions to balance the budget, and who want to rely upon projected revenue streams to protect their public sector enterprises.

Just Say No to Traffic Cams!

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