THOSE DAMN SPEED TRAPS

I remember back to my teen years where having a loud powerful car was a basic need. Gas was cheap and any car over 5 years old was ancient. We used to drive in miles per hour like our southern neighbors. Going metric seemed just to be a tactic to confuse people on how many miles to the gallon they were getting and traffic tickets went up accordingly. Instead of so many dollars for 1 to 5 mph over the speed limit and 5 to 10 mph over the limit etc. it was changed to the same fine for km over the limit. Along with the price per liter and the added revenue on tickets it was a great haul to fix our Canadian roads as was told to me by my parents. Most of the tax on gas back then was supposed to go for repairing and building roads and highways. To that I must say we have done an excellent job and am so grateful to all those people paying for the petrol to fuel their vehicles.

What I find insulting to my limited intelligence is all the hype on photo radar in Manitoba. The City and the Province both say how it makes our roads safer and there are those that say it is just a cash generator for spend thrift Governments.

When I was a teenager ripping around in a loud beater I got stopped by the local constabulary many times. I was issued a ticket by someone that treated me with respect and I gave that respect back to the Officer. Many times the Officer would give me a lecture on driving fast or not paying attention. Many times I was given a warning to fix things like brake lights or headlights. The police that stopped us actually were checking our vehicles for safety or road worthiness and I would bet that making polite conversation with us would clue them in to whether or not we had been drinking.

Today we get tickets by mail and none of these safety measures are done. Unlike when I was a teenager, today we have all kinds of stolen vehicles running around, unregistered vehicles and even vehicles with stolen plates on their cars. Many of these very cars are involved in accidents, resulting in personal injuries and property damage. This in itself costs the taxpayer a fortune and so does the administration of justice should any of these people be caught or charged.

In today’s world, I view these photo radar lights and those vehicles in the school zones as nothing more than toll booths on our roads. In my mind they do nothing to increase safety and they do absolutely do nothing to apprehend or stop stolen vehicles, speeding vehicles or impaired drivers.

In other words, I could drink a bottle of whiskey, steal a car, and drive it 100 KMH thru one photo radar trap after another and then do it again. I could probably rear end a vehicle and probably get away with it, unless it was a photo van. My point is how do radar cameras stop this behavior. The only factor involved here is the monetary punishment placed on the offender that gets the ticket. Even if it was not me driving I would still get the ticket as the owner is responsible for his or her vehicle at all times. So a mechanic could drive thru a light speeding and I would get a ticket a few weeks later. There goes innocence until proven guilty in this Province.  It would probably be cheaper in my case to plead guilty and have the judge apply the RULE of Gladue.

One good thing about today’s world is that big load powerful cars are not the norm anymore as teenagers today have opted for small gas savers. Instead of big loud motors they fill the trunk with big bass woofers and sub woofers and when you hear the beat it sounds exactly like those big block eights of yesteryear.