This is an election year, and drivers vote.

This is an election year, and drivers vote.

In a typical Harrisburg sleight-of-hand move, there is a PA House Bill 1646 on tap for a vote in Harrisburg that may have been amended in violation of the rules of the Pennsylvania Constitution. Speed Trap Bill SB 172, authorizing speed cameras in work zones and on Roosevelt Boulevard, is being added to HB 1646 because Speed Trap Bill SB 172 will never pass on its own merits, because it is only for money, not for safety. The camera proponents hope to slip one by us with this tactic.

There is no crisis of drivers slaughtering highway workers on Pennsylvania’s roads. Most work zone fatalities are caused by the workers themselves, not by passing motorists. Speed cameras in work zones are being promoted for the huge amount of money they will raise from unfair tickets, as well as the money the camera sellers will reap. Roosevelt Boulevard can be tamed by synchronizing the traffic lights at a reasonable speed, and pedestrians protected by putting cross walks underground. But there is no money in that.

Study: Speed Cameras Do Nothing in Freeway Construction Zones
UK government-sponsored study shows speed cameras have no effect in construction zone.
https://www.thenewspaper.com/news/05/582.asp
The Transport Research Laboratory, makers of the study, get no money from speed cameras.
Minnesota Study Finds No Benefit To Work Zone Speed Cams
Speed cameras failed to produce any significant results in a Minnesota DOT work zone study. http://thenewspaper.com/news/50/5006.asp
Why put speed cameras in work zones if they are ineffective? For the money!

Legislators should VOTE NO on the illegally amended PA House Bill HB 1646 in order to defeat Speed Trap Bill SB 172. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Tom McCarey Member, National Motorists Association
The opinions expressed in this letter belong to the author and do not necessarily represent those of the NMA or the NMA Foundation