The idea of putting Lakewood-inspired cameras in Tacoma intersections to catch speeders and yellow-to-red light runners is absurd for a battery of reasons. First and foremost, nobody should ever be forced to slam on their brakes because a light is changing colors. I haven’t stopped hard for yellow-to-red light in years, and I don’t like the idea of my coffee and other items loose in my vehicle flying about the cabin, not to mention my wasted gas mileage, and overall wasted time at even more red lights in town being the ultimate result.

Yellow lights should be twice as long in duration as they are currently. Who ever stops smoothly at a yellow light? I see people standing on their brake pedals and guarding their passengers with their forearm all the time. This is their prerogative, however, I choose not to play this game. Installation of cameras at key nodes in my daily travel path would likely change my behavior. This is exactly what they want, and this pisses me off.

The overall message I’d like to send here is that ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in the traffic & road realm should absorb taxpayer time and money unless it involves making them faster, smoother and/or less congested. I don’t see any of that at the heart of this issue. What I do see is scared, over-conservative drivers around town believing this to be a great idea for “making our roads safer” and generating revenue at the same time!

These folks will meet opposition as long as I’M ALIVE.