We finally have someone in the State Assembly who gets it. Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon of the 13th Legislative District has taken on the fight of exposing red-light cameras for what they are, which is nothing more than driver traps which were installed and deployed under the guise of traffic safety. O’Scanlon arranged for an out of state professional engineer to conduct an independent study of certain red-light cameras that he suspected were not calibrated correctly. During the first two days of the study the engineer identified 5 intersections with questionable timing, which was more than enough information for O’Scanlon. “This whole program is seriously flawed” he stated.
I guess we should be thankful we have only one intersection with these cash-grabbing cameras in East Windsor, that being the intersection of Route 130 and Dutch Neck Road. But in my mind, one is one too many. Where was the public discussion before our Mayor and the sheep that follow her (our Township Council) crammed this ridiculous cash grab down our throats? We have to look no farther than to our neighbors in Lawrence Township to see how effective and useful red-light cameras really are. According to Lawrence Police Chief Daniel Posluszny, rear-end collisions have gone up at the intersection of Brunswick Pike and Franklin Corner/Baker Basin Road since red-light cameras were installed there over a year ago. “The numbers have gone up on rear-end accidents and it’s a concern,”Poluszny said. “It’s there to improve safety and in the first year accidents have increased. There is no way around it.”
Are the cameras in East Windsor any more effective or are they causing the same problems that our friends in Lawrence are experiencing? I’m pretty sure we will never know as the number one requirement of maintaining continued employment with East Windsor Township is to never disagree with our Mayor. This is a fact I’m sure Police Chief James Monahan is well aware of, so we probably won’t be getting any enlightening information from him anytime soon.
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But at least we do have an advocate in the Assembly who is actively working to put an end to this red-light camera nonsense. My sincere thanks go out to Assemblyman O’Scanlon for his tireless efforts in working to correct this wrong. I only wish our two Assemblymen and our State Senator in the 14th District had half the backbone and common sense that Assemblyman O’Scanlon has.
