Re: ‘Reader fed up with photo radar ruining grass and polluting the air,’ March 12 Gazette:
I’m pretty saddened that a grown man is complaining about photo radar. And I really hope the argument wasn’t actually about one vehicle idling in the winter, in a population of more than 60,000. Seriously, look outside your front door in the morning and see how many cars are warming up.
Look, we all hate photo radar simply because we can be caught and that means losing some of our potentially hard-earned money. However, as adults, we know that if we are caught, it’s our own damn fault for breaking the law, not the photo radar operator’s fault for doing a job that’s meant to slow down unsafe drivers.
Most drivers of this city know where the photo radar locations are: beside the Blockbuster in Tudor Glen, in the Hole’s parking lot, multiple points down St. Albert Trail, etc. Sure, the photo radar vehicles are usually hiding behind electrical boxes, or in this weather, behind large snow piles, but you drive in the city, you know where to watch. Photo radar is in place to stop people from breaking the law. From speeding. How else do you expect the police to enforce this law?
If there are no consequences, then no one will stop speeding. Therefore, instead of taking people to jail for going slightly over 12 km/h, they give tickets. I’m sure it does bring in a lot of money, but it’s not being greedy. It’s just that people don’t want to drive safely, and they don’t want to pay the price for it. Because I live in Oakmont, I’ve noticed an above average attendance of the photo radar vehicles in the Hole’s parking lot this winter. The city doesn’t have to shovel any snow and have the radar vehicle park on the grass. But, there’s not a large portion of the city’s driving population in Oakmont and half of Erin Ridge, so hey, to keep St. Albert’s streets a little safer, the city has to shovel some snow and radar has to park on the dead grass. I’m sorry if safety isn’t as pretty to you as the city’s grass.
Landis Donahue, St. Albert
