What do you call a program that was established by the government, is run by the government, was created to save lives, and is, in fact, saving lives?
A success.
That’s right, folks. Those cameras that have been catching red-light runners at some of the worst intersections on Roosevelt Boulevard for seven years and are popping up at several other frustratingly congested intersections in Northeast Philly are doing their job.
On the Boulevard alone, the number of pedestrians struck and killed by vehicles since the cameras were installed has dropped dramatically.
In addition to adding funds to the city and state from financial penalties imposed upon red-light runners, the cameras are getting many motorists to do what they should have been doing all along — stop driving like maniacs, reduce their speed, and actually stop when the traffic light turns red.
It shouldn’t take a rocket scientist — or even a Philadelphia Department of Streets official with a Ph.D in traffic engineering — to know that the city must do its level best to install cameras at as many busy intersections as possible, not just in the Great Northeast but throughout the City of Brotherly Speeders. Police need all the help they can get to crack down on red-light runners. Vigorous enforcement of the traffic code, aided by the marvelous technology mounted atop poles on the busy streets of the city, will do wonders to force all the Leadfoots to ease up on the accelerator and step on the brakes.
Foes of red-light cameras need to remember this: We, the people, need government to protect us from ourselves.
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Editorial: Let there be light
Philadelphia
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