In 2007 the City of Dallas implemented a genius plan called SafeLight. Its goal was to reduce the number of traffic accidents at busy intersections by photographing the violator's license plate as they drive through a red light. According to the SafeLight website, an officer then analyzes the images to determine if a violation actually occurred. While its intentions are good, the program is yet another example of how we are moving toward a fascist-like state not unlike the government in the book "1984" by George Orwell. We are incrementally developing programs at the city, state and federal level that encroaches on our right to privacy and hurts those its trying to protect.
Ironically, I support the government doing all it can to track and develop information on persons of interest right here in the U.S. through phone call monitoring, email monitoring, HUMINT and any other "sources and methods" that will make their job of protecting our national security easier, especially when potential terrorist activities are involved.
The difference is the fact that so much time, energy and my tax money are wasted on trying to catch people making simple traffic violations. Instead of penalizing people that run red lights or occassionally speed, who are generally solid American citizens who otherwise contribute to society, why not focus more energy on cleaning up our streets from gangs, corruption, drugs, prostitution, indiscriminate killings, rape and terrorist activity?
So, obviously I am guilty of receiving one of these violations from Big Brother. Guilty as sin-sent to my mail today for an October 5th violation, there was a picture of my license plate along with the time, location and even the current weather at the intersection. The cost to me-$75. I went to the website to begrudgingly pay the fine only to find out I've been tagged for ANOTHER ticket at the exact same location-this time on November 4th-the notice for this one has yet to be mailed to me.
When there is a cost associated to my actions I'll accept responsibilty and the consequences and move on. I rarely make the same mistake twice; problem is, the City of Dallas doesn't even give me a chance to learn from my first mistake, before I'm tagged for the EXACT same thing a second time!
Again, I play by the rules, pay my taxes and always strive to do the right thing, but I'm human. This SafeLight program completey removes the human element and systematically incriminates people without asking questions. If an officer had pulled me over on the second occurence, he would have seen that I had yet to be notified of the first occurence and probably would have let me go, but tell me to be more careful. If the officer looked at my driving record, he would have seen that I have no prior tickets (knock on wood) and have never even been involved in an accident (knock, knock on wood!!). Not that it excuses my violations, but before penalizing me for a second one, without even knowing about the first one, some consideration should be made of the circumstances surrounding my second citation-something the SafeLight program is clearly incapable of.
Its a sad day when a citizen feels like his voice is lost in a system that majors in the minors and subsequently hurts those they are trying to protect. If we aren't careful, we are incrementally approaching a police-state that values states rights more than the rights of its people. Just another example of how big government ultimately hurts those it is trying to help.
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