Red light ruckus, moveon

About a year ago or so Collier County started installing red light cameras at several busy intersections.  Naples, like most areas had issues with idiots screaming through red lights and causing accidents, sometimes fatal.  When the county commissioners approved their installation there was some mild complaining but the general sentiment was red light runners are dangerous and if this curtails that behavior it is worth it.

Well now fast forward to present day.  It turns out the reality of the red light system was not exposed before they approved.  Everyone, the commissioners, the sheriff, the general public assumed these cameras were used to nail people that ran through an intersection when the light was already red or when somebody turns left across traffic after their green arrow has turned red.  Well they aren’t used at all to catch left turn on red people but they are used to nail right turn on red offenders by the hundreds.

The way the system works is this.  The company that installs the red light cameras does it for no cost to the county.  They generate their income by taking a slice of the citations that are automatically issued.  The county also gets a slice of this pie.  Well when they started releasing the statistics for the citations people were outraged.  90+% of the citations were for right turn on red offenders.

Now if you read the law for right turn on red verbatim it goes something like this, a vehicle turning right on red has to first stop behind the white line for approximately 3 seconds, after doing so they can move forward and if traffic allows, they may then turn right on red.  Yea, ok, NOBODY does that.  Obviously this is all about just f’ing over motorists that are performing a maneuver that everyone, including law enforcement does.  You pull up to the intersection, make sure nothing is coming and then make your turn.  Yes I may not even come to a complete stop, my wheels could be inching along a bit.

Now granted, there are assholes that will roll right through a right on red without even slowing down at all.  Sure, nail those people, but if someone pauses, looks and makes his turn they should not be ticketed.

Well understandably people are pissed off about this.  What I find amazing is this revelation by one of the commissioners stating that they were unaware that right on red offenders were going to be targeted with this system.  They said nobody in county government to her knowledge knew this.  How the hell does that little detail get left out?  Well there is a wave of sentiment against the red light system now, hopefully it’s enough to get them to concentrate on the truly dangerous driving maneuvers instead of the purely profitable ones.

Moveon.org came to fame during the Bush years as one of the administrations harshest and most persistent critics.  Surely most Rushtonians equate the organization to purely liberal agendas with no common sense to help meter their message.  Well it’s simply not true.

Moveon has continued to try to get their word out even with a democratic leader in place.  They were very vocal in their opposition to the watered down, compromise stuffed health care plan that came before Congress.  They would have preferred to have it killed than passed in it’s end form.

Today they sent out another bulletin about AIG having the balls to pay out a hundred million dollars of bonuses to executives while they are still on the tab to the American public for BILLIONS.  It’s insanity pure and simple and moveon is as sick of the bullshit as I am.

Read on:

Yesterday news broke that AIG—the bailed-out insurance giant—will give out another $100 million in bonuses.¹ Seriously?

These are the people who wrecked our economy. And AIG still owes taxpayers $182 billion.

Their priority should be paying us back—not giving out obscene bonuses.

But unless Congress acts—by blocking bonuses at bailed-out banks or imposing heavy taxes on them—they’ll keep wasting our money. Can you sign our petition telling them that serious action to rein in bonuses is long overdue? Clicking below will add your name.

http://pol.moveon.org/aigagain/o.pl?id=18831-6800852-4mPcj7x&t=3

The petition says: “Bailed-out companies shouldn’t be allowed to waste money on bonuses until they’ve paid back their debt in full.”

Bankers in other countries have already gotten the message that their behavior is unacceptable. England and France have imposed heavy surtaxes on outrageous banker bonuses.²

But the banks still hold enormous power in Washington—as Sen. Dick Durbin put it, “They frankly own the place.”³ And they’re using all of their lobbying clout to oppose any attempts to rein in their bonuses.⁴

So despite the huge outcry over the last round of AIG bonuses, Congress still hasn’t done anything to stop Wall Street from giving out huge bonuses. AIG’s bonus plan is unacceptable. Clicking below will add your name to the petition letting Congress know they need to do something to stop it.

http://pol.moveon.org/aigagain/o.pl?id=18831-6800852-4mPcj7x&t=4

Thanks for all you do.