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Arming local cops with radar guns, should be voted down.
Despite 30 years of technological innovations, radar still suffers from the same reliability and performance issues that have made it unacceptable as evidence in a court of law. A research study states that radar cannot meet the requirements of the Daubert test, which is a set of standards trial judges use to determine whether or not expert testimony is based on valid scientific reasoning and methodology.
One of radar’s biggest downfalls: it can’t distinguish one vehicle from another.
Overall, the study further supports the conclusion that radar speed measurement is unreliable, easily misused and often abused for revenue purposes. Radar speed enforcement encourages policing for profit.
But the state House and Senate Transportation Committees want to give radar to local cops statewide.
There is no speeding problem in the state, since only 3 to 5 percent of fatalities are caused by excessive speed, but there is a problem of highway engineering malpractice by local politicians who set speed limits too low to make it easy to write tickets to raise revenue, turning the police into tax collectors.
Traffic laws fairly written and reasonably enforced is a foreign concept to officials like the Transportation Committee members.
Radar cheerleaders can use all the flowery language they want, saying that it isn’t for the money and we will be protected from abuse, but it is well established in Pennsylvania that SB 251 is for the express purpose to keep a stream of drivers’ cash flowing into government.
SB 251 should be voted down.
Tom McCarey
Member, National Motorists Association