NO RADAR/LIDAR for local cops in PA

To All Motorists in Pennsylvania:

The Transportation Committee of the Pennsylvania Senate wants your money.  They plan to get it by passing SB 535 and SB 559 which will give RADAR and LIDAR to all municipalities in the Commonwealth.  RADAR and LIDAR will be used to unfairly tax safe drivers while making the roads more dangerous by leaving in place improperly set speed limits.

Speed limits in Pennsylvania are purposely set too low.  90% of the limits in Pennsylvania are underposted by 8 to 16 miles per hour [Federal Highway Administration study, 1996].  That makes it easy to write expensive "speeding" tickets.  Yet our esteemed Senators would have you believe that there is an epidemic of speeders run amok that can only be cured by RADAR and LIDAR in the hands of local police. 

In fact, Pennsylvania highways have never been safer, according to PennDOT.  Note the recent raising of the Turnpike's limit to 70 MPH.  That's the speed at which the majority of drivers travel safely, the 85th Percentile Speed of free flowing traffic.  Local roads, however, have limits set by politicians with an agenda of raising revenue through issuing of speeding tickets instead of limits set by highway engineers using time-tested safety guidelines.  The Senators are preying on the public's lack of true highway safety knowledge to ram their bills into law, as they constantly harp on the "speed kills" lie. Only 3% of fatal accidents are caused by willful speeding (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration).  While not good, it is no justification for RADAR and LIDAR everywhere.

Add to that the inaccuracies of RADAR and LIDAR.  We all know the stories of the tree clocked at 90 miles per hour; that is the rule with RADAR not the exception.  The accuracy of laser-based speed guns (LIDAR) has been shown to be unproven in 95% or more of the country's courts.

It's remarkable that in an election year, the Pennsylvania Senate Transportation Committee would send to the floor two bills designed to fleece their constituents.  Call your Senators and tell them NO RADAR, NO LIDAR for local police.  VOTE NO on SB 535 and SB 559.  Thank you.

Sincerely,

Tom McCarey