Municipal police must not be allowed to use radar to nab speeders

This is in response to your story on a proposal to allow municipal police departments to use radar (Daily Local News, March 5, 2023). Tell your Representative and Senator to vote no on Speed Trap Bill SB 459.

The primary objective of the enforcement of traffic laws must be to ensure the safe usage of highways and not to generate revenue.

That starts with posting limits at the safest speed, which is the 85th Percentile Speed of freeflowing traffic. When that is done, the falsely ginned-up “speeding problem” goes away, freeing police departments to go after the truly dangerous drivers, and not to levy unfair taxes on reasonable and prudent drivers doing nothing unsafe and harming no one.

Misinformed citizens and politicians who have zero knowledge of true highway safety would have you believe that there is an epidemic of speeders run amok that can only be cured by RADAR and LIDAR. In fact, Pennsylvania’s highways have never been safer, according to PennDOT.

Radar cheerleaders can use all the flowery language they want, saying that RADAR isn’t for the money, and we will be protected from abuse, but it is well established in Pennsylvania that Speed Trap Bill SB 459 is for the express purpose to keep a stream of safe driver’s cash flowing into government. Urban legend, emotion and intention seem to have become the principal determinants of government policy, rather than 70+ years of data produced by highway safety engineers and organizations who have no financial interest in radar enforcement.