Red-light cameras are anti-American
It amazes me that someone with the level of ignorance illustrated by Mayor Saccomanno of Wauconda towards the constitution and the founding tenets of this great nation could be elected to any public office. In Tuesday's paper, he says of red-light traffic cameras, "I don't see the cons," he said. "People cannot go through red lights and we can't have a police officer sitting at every intersection. It also has to do with pedestrian safety as well."
I'll point out the one major con which should have you telling RedSpeed to take a hike; the major problem with these types of red-light cameras is that they pass the burden of proof from the state (accuser) to the citizen (accusee).
A corner-stone of our justice system is that you're innocent until proven guilty. These cameras only catch your plate, not your face, which means that it's possible someone else could drive your car through a red light and you get the ticket, even though you didn't break any laws. Do you think the state/town cares? Of course not, they care about revenue, and good luck trying to prove it wasn't you driving.
If your car goes through a red light, and one of these cameras catches it, the onus is on you to prove your innocence, whereas the onus should be placed on the prosecution to prove your guilt. There is an important distinction between the two.
Citizens must be made aware that elected officials such as Mayor Saccomanno, are under the influence of private entities such as RedSpeed Illinois. Laws, codes and regulations are currently being passed not with your best interests in mind, rather because some official was "sold" on some new technology, promising to make us "safer."
Reading this story, and others like it, I can't help but be reminded of Dwight D. Eisenhower's farewell speech, "In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist." While a much smaller scale, the parallels are as clear as day, if we can only get past the "safety-blinders" pulled over our eyes.
Frank Benjamin
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