Maryland "Safe Speed" Cameras: grrrr....
Apr. 28th, 2011 01:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
icarusThere are times when I truly miss Seattle. Such as every time I pass one of Maryland's Safe Speed cameras.
In Seattle, those things would be vandalized. There would be "moon the camera" campaigns instigated by The Stranger.
The City Council would hear from every liberal ("these cameras are strictly for revenue and unfairly target the poor who are more likely to be driving between multiple jobs, and for whom the fines are staggeringly steep") and libertarian ("these cameras are Big Brother and represent the intrusiveness of big government out of control and the use of our taxes to make more money to make bigger government") in town.
There'd be articles from civil liberties lawyers about how the data collected from these cameras could be abused.
Politicians would get hit from both the right and the left. And by hit, I mean, hit as hard as linebackers.
Any government employee who supported these cameras would be targeted for immediate removal from office. There would be an anti-tax backlash. An immensely popular citizen referendum on the subject.
And yet, people in Maryland meekly put up with this bullshit. Who does the government work for here?
I miss Seattle.
ETA: To put this in perspective, in twenty-three years of driving, prior to moving here, I've only gotten one speeding ticket. One.
Guess how many times this one speed trap has nailed me in the last six months? Three. I come around the curve, and the speed limit has suddenly dropped from 40mph to 30mph. I have to drive by it all the time.
In Seattle, those things would be vandalized. There would be "moon the camera" campaigns instigated by The Stranger.
The City Council would hear from every liberal ("these cameras are strictly for revenue and unfairly target the poor who are more likely to be driving between multiple jobs, and for whom the fines are staggeringly steep") and libertarian ("these cameras are Big Brother and represent the intrusiveness of big government out of control and the use of our taxes to make more money to make bigger government") in town.
There'd be articles from civil liberties lawyers about how the data collected from these cameras could be abused.
Politicians would get hit from both the right and the left. And by hit, I mean, hit as hard as linebackers.
Any government employee who supported these cameras would be targeted for immediate removal from office. There would be an anti-tax backlash. An immensely popular citizen referendum on the subject.
And yet, people in Maryland meekly put up with this bullshit. Who does the government work for here?
I miss Seattle.
ETA: To put this in perspective, in twenty-three years of driving, prior to moving here, I've only gotten one speeding ticket. One.
Guess how many times this one speed trap has nailed me in the last six months? Three. I come around the curve, and the speed limit has suddenly dropped from 40mph to 30mph. I have to drive by it all the time.