The zero-tolerance of the traffic enforcement world!
Back in October my wife told me to slow down while I was driving south on I-93. You see my wife was groaning and squirming as our daughter was being evicted from her crappy studio apartment in a rather nice neighborhood. I wasn’t concerned about being pulled over, because I would simply tell the officer I indeed was driving fast, and indeed there was a baby coming out of my wife and I’d like to get to the hospital in good time.
Try talking to a stupid camera!
Authorities installed red-light cameras near the emergency room entrance at University Hospital in Tamarac to nail traffic violators, but those rushing to the facility for medical attention are getting ensnared.
When Jacob Alcahe began to sweat and feel chest pains this past October, he thought he might be having a heart attack.
“That day I felt very bad,” Alcahe said. “I couldn’t breathe and I was sweating and my chest hurt,” he told Florida Watchdog.
So Alcahe decided to drive himself to the Tamarac hospital. With the emergency room in sight, he stopped at the traffic light at the intersection of University Drive and 72th Street and waited anxiously for the light to turn green. After several minutes, he decided he’d waited long enough.
“I was desperate to get to the hospital because I felt very nervous,” Alcahe said.
Fortunately for him, the episode wasn’t life threatening. Alcahe was prescribed some medicine and was told to go home and rest.
The real heart stopper came a few days later when he received a fine of $158 for running the light.
Super classy, assholes! Of course this is the whole point, they know that people rushing to the ER are less likely to obey traffic laws. While maybe a judge will be lenient, most will probably just pay and be done with it…and that’s the whole point.
These cameras are NOT about public safety, they’re about fundraising.
The $158 is a pittance compared to the 25-30% increase in auto insurance premiums he’ll have to pay over the next 3 years for being an “unsafe” driver.
It’ll likely total at least 10 times the amount of the ticket.
I’m in the school that believes those cameras actually make the intersections less safe, because people who don’t want a ticket will slam on their brakes to stop, which will cause more rear-end collisions. It’s a scam to make the local government more money, and “public safety” be damned.