OFF THE WIRE
http://www.nctimes.com/news/opinion/editorial/article_d94962a1-134f-55fb-98f0-a2cd897f75b0.html
EDITORIAL: Shutter red-light cameras
OUR VIEW: Murrieta should face the fact that cameras will be voted out anyway....
Story Discussion EDITORIAL: Shutter red-light cameras
By The Californian editorial staff North County Times - The Californian
Posted: Friday, February 4, 2011 12:00 am
If history holds true, Murrieta will soon become one of a growing number of cities, counties and even states ridding themselves of red-light cameras, those automated ticket-writers that "patrol" problematic intersections.
Shortly after the City Council voted to expand the program in Murrieta, a woman announced that she was beginning a petition drive not only to stop the installation of more cameras but to remove the handful already in operation.
Red-light cameras are problematic on several levels. Since their introduction more than a decade ago, there have been documented abuses, such as cities shortening the yellow-light cycles to catch more drivers, and "quick triggers" on the cameras photographing drivers who actually entered intersections legally.
There are also clear indications that many cities favor the cameras at least as much for their revenue as their safety encouragement. (When voters in Houston decreed last November that the cameras in that city be turned off, the city comptroller bemoaned not the threat to public safety, but the loss of $10 million to the city treasury.)
That the cameras are owned and operated by private companies that make a big profit from them feeds that perception.
Then there's the whole Big Brother aspect. There may be no shuttering the array of cameras catching our every public move, but we don't have to like them.
Yet we're also a little disquieted by a system that essentially allows voters to determine the tools authorities use to enforce the laws.
Of course drivers don't like the cameras ---- especially those who have gotten tickets because of them. But many drivers don't like speed limits, either. Should we vote on those? Or on the radar guns used to enforce them?
That the Murrieta ban will pass is almost a given. Nowhere has there been a public vote on the cameras where they have survived, underscoring the divide between public perception and that of law enforcement and political leaders.
The Murrieta City Council is fighting a losing battle. It could save itself and others a lot of time, money and trouble by simply recognizing that and voting to do away with the red-light cameras.
