For years truckers and motorists alike have questioned the
true intentions behind the use of automated enforcement.
Advocates for the technology say the devices, which are
commonly used at intersections to detect red-light runners and elsewhere to
snap photos of speeders, are all about safety. They say the cameras are there
when law enforcement cannot be there.
Not too many people buy the explanation. Plain and simple, most
view the “enforcement tool” as a moneymaker.
In fact, elected officials with an affinity for the devices
will occasionally draw attention to the economic benefits of automated
ticketing machines. The most recent example of this way of thinking popped up
in a New Jersey community that borders New York City.
Fort Lee, NJ, Mayor Mark Sokolich told The Record newspaper he wants red-light cameras installed in his
town in the worst way and admitted it was for money. According to the report,
the mayor said – and I quote the newspaper – “... for money reasons. There, I
said it. These things generate income.”
Ticket camera use in New Jersey has been a topic of
conversation in recent months. The mayor’s comments continue the dialogue.
Concerns about whether everything is on the up-and-up there spurred
the state DOT to suspend the doling out of tickets at 63 of the 85
intersections statewide that employ the money-making devices.
The focus was on yellow time. However, DOT officials shortly
thereafter determined that everything was fine and they allowed the program to
continue at the sites in question.
Some state lawmakers are tired of the shenanigans that are
encouraged through the cameras use. Sen. Michael Doherty, R-Washington, is
leading an effort at the statehouse to permanently ban the cameras in the
state. He also has an online petition
to rally support.
Doherty, and many others, question why Sokolich’s proposal
to install red-light cameras in Fort Lee is not being put on the local ballot.
The answer is simple: The mayor knows the deck is stacked
against him.
Sokolich told the newspaper “you put this on a referendum
... (and) I don’t know if it would garner enough support to pass.”
