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More proof that Harrisburg wants safe drivers’ money. At a press conference and at a budget hearing, the state was promoting work zone speed cameras, speed cameras and RADAR, again showing speed cameras and RADAR exist to funnel money into government coffers. They are not for safety, as Harrisburg continues to claim.
From 1970 to 2015 the number of Pennsylvania highway workers killed by passing cars has been 1 every 2.14 years. The majority are killed by worker caused accidents within the work zone. This fact never shows up in articles about “work zone deaths” as if there is wholesale carnage on the streets by maniac drivers flying through work zones. Car & Driver’s Patrick Bedard concludes. “When you clear away the slogans, ‘Give ‘em a brake’ is not about worker safety, it’s about government agencies spending money and raising more.”’
Washington, D.C.’s decade old speed camera program has not improved traffic safety. Private vendors have mailed more than 7,000,000 photo tickets and collected $500 billion in revenue; injury accidents have not declined as they have throughout the rest of the country.
Harrisburg’s policy is clear: The Public Be Damned! The Legislature sees drivers as a new source of big money and is pushing for ways to get it: speed cameras and RADAR.
Tom McCarey
Member, National Motorists Association