Letter to the editor: Radar about revenue, not safety

Regarding the letter “North Park no place for speeders” (April 22, TribLIVE): The public has been misinformed about radar and “speeding.”

Radar should be banned in Pennsylvania and not extended to municipal police. There is no epidemic crisis of speeding.

Speed is a cause of accidents 5% of the time, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The Florida Department of Transportation puts it at 2%. Data from NHTSA’s own Fatality Analysis Reporting System have demonstrated that only about 2% of traffic fatalities are the responsibility of drivers exceeding the speed limit. Speed as a cause of accidents when traffic is free flowing is a rare event, yet this is when the majority of citations are written. Speed traps are staged where it is safe to drive faster, making it easy to write tickets.

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) found that 90% of the time speed limits in Pennsylvania are posted 8 to 16 miles per hour below the safest speed. The politicians’ response to complaints from uninformed and misled constituents about “speeders” is to push for arming all police statewide with radar guns, while keeping posted limits too low and withholding NHTSA and FHWA statistics showing that there is no speeding crisis.

The Legislature should not give radar guns to municipal police. Radar guns will only raise money; they will not add to safety.

Radar is not about highway safety; radar exists to raise revenue.

Tom McCarey

Wapwallopen, Pa.