Taxation by Citation

To the Editor:

The Pennsylvania legislature is desperate for new sources of revenue. They know that everyone has to drive. They know that speed limits are under-posted by 8 to 16 MPH 90 percent of the time. They know that the posted limits de facto make 85 percent of drivers into speeders, likely to get a “speeding” citation. An unfair tax by any other name.

To greatly simplify the chore of catching all the “speeders,” they want to arm municipal police with radar guns: Speed Trap Bill SB 607. This will open the floodgates for all of your money to flow into Harrisburg, municipalities and into special interest coffers.

There is no speeding crisis, no horde of drivers running amok. People drive at a speed they feel is safe: this is a highway engineering principle called the 85th Percentile Speed. Eighty-five percent of the time, drivers operate their vehicle in a reasonable and prudent manner (legal speak for “safe”).

Three urban myths about speed limits:

1. Low speed limits will increase safety and decrease the number of crashes.

2. Raising the posted speed limit increases traffic speed.

3. Drivers will always travel at 5 mph over the posted speed limit.

Radar for municipal police departments is a money grab, and has nothing to do with safety.

Tell your state representative and state senator that you are tired of being their cash cow, being milked at every turn for doing nothing harmful, nothing unsafe.

Tell them to vote NO on Speed Trap Bill SB 607.

Tom McCarey

Berwyn, PA