SMILE, YOU'RE ON RED LIGHT CAMERA

The red light cameras are back on here in the nation's 4th largest city. Yes, despite VOTERS shooting red light cameras down in last November's election, the city has turned them back on because a federal judge has ruled that VOTE to be invalid. Never mind what rights are being violated by having the damn things in the 1st place.

Now, there are some out there that don't mind government taking just a little more control of our lives and are actually for these things. They'll play the safety card and go on and on about how they save lives. They'll tell you accidents are down such and such percent in intersections where these cameras are. And there might just be some truth to that. Or, the stats they use could just be unrelated altogether. There hasn't been an accident on the street I live on in 3 years. Last week there were 2 wrecks. Nothing has changed on the street from the previous 3 years, yet accidents are up 200%.

Find just one intersection where these cameras are that shows accidents are down and it's over. The pro-red lighters will use that argument to make you believe that the cameras are working - that they are keeping people from running red lights, which of course, causes all the accidents to begin with. I've got 2 words for these people.

HORSE PUCKEY!!!!!!!!!

In the 4 years that these cameras have been rolling, the City of Houston has collected $44 MILLION in fines!! That comes out to around 800,000 cars NOT stopping on red. And that's just what they've collected. There's reportedly another $20 million in fines, or 270,000 more tickets, that are outstanding. Over 1 million tickets have been issued from these cameras for running a red light. I don't know about you, but that doesn't sound like these things are making much of a difference at all, other than providing the city an $11 million per year revenue stream. And there lies what it's all about. Money. It always is.

Red light runners suck! No doubt about that. RED MEANS STOP, IDIOT!!!!! But government finding another way to separate you from your money sucks just as bad, if not worse. And then lie to your face about it telling you it's about safety, not money.

I know, I know, if you never run a red light you don't have to worry about it. Fine, soon we'll live in a world that has speeding cameras issuing fines, turn signal cameras, illegal lane changing cameras, people putting on makeup in the car detection cameras. You can't smoke here, you can't use your cellphone there, you can't eat this, you can't buy that, letting them take one little piece of our liberties away at a time until we wake up one day and find we have none left.

Don't believe it? The people VOTED and said NO to the red light cameras. Now voting doesn't even seem to matter.