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Ha Ha

I'm sure the greedy bastards will appeal now that their Cashcam bill was defeated in the MD Senate.

Here's a letter I just wrote to Gov O'Malley (who never fails to disappoint).

Mr Governor,

I'm a registered Democrat who lives in Montgomery County, and I voted for you last election. I plan to vote for you in the next election (assuming you decide to run), but I must say this nonsensical love affair you have for speed cameras is quickly changing my mind, as well as the minds of many of my fellow citizens.

Everyone wants safer roads, but if you honestly read some of the unbiased studies of speed cameras, especially those from the UK, the results are dubious at best. In many cases, accident rates have increased in camera locations.

Then there's the cost. If the cameras work and people slow down, who's going to pay for the cameras? The rest of us non-speeding taxpayers, that's who! And if people don't slow down and the cameras keep making money (as is probably the case now), is that not proof that they're not effective?

I know that you don't have to worry about driving yourself through rush-hour traffic, but your constituents do, and nothing snarls rush-hour traffic more than the accordion effect created by a single speed camera. Even people who are not speeding tend to slow sharply, and this ripple runs back through the line of traffic. Rush-hour traffic in camera locations (and I pass three cameras on the way to work) has increased by an order of magnitude. This stop-and-go traffic wastes gas and increases pollution.

Mr. Governor, the public sees these things as revenue generators, so no matter how much of a perceived safety improvement they provide, they're going to be poison at the polls. Please use the funds allotted for camera purchases to hire more human officers. They do a lot more than just police one 30-foot section of road.

I'm sure he'll send me back some horseshit form letter telling me how all our children will be killed if we don't allow him to put Cashcams at every street corner. Sort of like how Bush told us that we'll all be killed by terra-ists if we don't let him steal all Iraq's oil.

Whether it has a D or an R suffix, greed is greed and authoritarianism is authoritarianism.