Scameras

I sent a letter to the editor of Car and Driver regarding this article. Read the letter below.

Bedard,

I agree, wholeheartedly. The last thing our roads need is a bigger moneymaking scam. I suppose that if the money was going straight to the government, then it might make sense to do it. But the fact that some greedy corporation is raking the benefits of our own stupidity, using our police forces like a whore, makes it all the more worse. And it doesn't decrease injuries to the public, as shown in Winnipeg. The cameras actually made things worse than what they were.

The thing is, you'll never sell that idea to the public. The greedy corporations are right - North Americans are going to buy into this like crazy. Basically because it makes perfect logical sense. When you add more automatic traffic fines, collisions will decrease . Why wouldn't they?

All we need to do is convince the public of a reason why Winnipeg failed. Then we can try telling them that when you add more automatic traffic fines, collisions will increase. Huh? What?! Why? The problem is that the reason is probably more complicated than the average person is willing to try to comprehend. What? People actually get in more accidents trying to avoid fines than if they just drove around normally? It's a battle we're not likely to win.

Nathan Sherwood
Kitchener, Ontario