[Summit] Fwd: Enhanced Speed Limit Enforcement

Elizabeth Grossman eggbdk at gmail.com
Thu Mar 8 19:28:21 UTC 2018


This is a discussion with a long theoretical  history:   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panopticism
and    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panopticon <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panopticon>      Elizabeth

> Begin forwarded message:
> 
> From: Greg Gerritt <gerritt at mindspring.com>
> Subject: Re: [Summit] Fw: Enhanced Speed Limit Enforcement
> Date: March 8, 2018 at 2:06:34 PM EST
> To: summit <summit at sna.providence.ri.us>
> 
> I like the idea of fines according to income.  But the fines are effective as a tool to slow folks down.  Once a neighbpr gets a fine, the whole neighborhood knows to slow the hell down.  People in RI drive horribly and fines are a reminder to drive safely.  When  RI no longer ranks 51st  (staehood for DC) in drivers knowing the rules of the road, maybe we can talk about other methods, but until RI drivers drive more safely I say fine them to bankruptcy.  Greg gerritt
> 
> From: Christopher Buecheler <cwbuecheler at gmail.com <mailto:cwbuecheler at gmail.com>>
> Date: Thursday, March 8, 2018 at 1:56 PM
> To: Summit Neighborhood <Summit at sna.providence.ri.us <mailto:Summit at sna.providence.ri.us>>
> Subject: Re: [Summit] Fw: Enhanced Speed Limit Enforcement
> 
> PREACH!
> 
> On Thu, Mar 8, 2018 at 1:27 PM, Mikaila Mariel Lemonik Arthur <mmlarthur at gmail.com <mailto:mmlarthur at gmail.com>> wrote:
>> These cameras are designed to raise revenue, not change behavior. If they were designed to change behavior they would be much more visible, with signage clearly reminding people what time of day school zones are in effect and what the speed limit is. No such signage is clearly visible in several places in the city with cameras, including Mount Pleasant Ave, where I drive routinely. If the city actually wanted to change behavior, it would do what it did in our neighborhood to calm traffic, like making bump outs and narrowing streets. There is clear evidence that on wide, straight streets like North Main and Mount Pleasant, our brain subconsciously registers the safe speed as faster than it does on crowded streets with bumpouts, like the ones in our neighborhood. I might find traffic calming annoying, but I know it works. As someone who drives on Mount Pleasant and knows tons of people who have gotten tickets already, I find it impossible to drive 20 miles an hour on the dark, deserted street at 6:30 pm because the visible signals are all wrong and there is no obvious reminder of the nearly invisible camera (some research has found speed cameras have a very large short-term effect on driver behavior but that this effect declines markedly over time, especially if drivers are not reminded of its presence).  If you'd like to learn more about how streetscapes and such affect the way we drive, I recommend Tom Vanderbilt's fascinating book Traffic (http://tomvanderbilt.com/books/traffic/ <http://tomvanderbilt.com/books/traffic/>). 
>> There are other more philosophical problems, such as the surveillance issue discussed above--I'd really prefer the city not to know where I am at all times. And the fines for speeding cameras are set at such a level as to make their payment impossible for some members of our community. Were we to adopt the Scandinavian model of day fines (https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/03/finland-home-of-the-103000-speeding-ticket/387484/ <https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/03/finland-home-of-the-103000-speeding-ticket/387484/>) so that the poor would be charged what they could afford and the wealthy still had to care about the impact of the fine, I'd be much more on board.
>> But most significantly, I do not believe in using fines and fees to raise revenue. If you want to punish people, or you have real evidence that deterrence works, that's one thing. But the city should be funded by fair, equitable taxation. We should not depend on expropriating money from people who did things wrong or who need city services to balance our budget. That is unjust and unsustainable. 
>> -- 
>> Mikaila Mariel Lemonik Arthur
>> mmlarthur at gmail.com <mailto:mmlarthur at gmail.com>
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> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> -Christopher Buecheler - @cwbuecheler
> -http://cwbuecheler.com <http://cwbuecheler.com/> | Web, Writing, Cocktails and More
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