On Aug. 4, L. Piercey wrote about speeders on Silver Star Road, and expressed doubt that the offenders will read the letter.
I share their doubt as many people today don’t read period.
For a number of years, I’ve advocated a return to photo radar. I believe the Gordon Campbell Liberals dumped it for political gain.
It never made economic sense anyway because you needed an RCMP member in the van to verify the camera was working properly.
With the technology today — intersection cameras that show the wart on your nose — there is no need to have any operator in the van.
Simply have a bylaw officer park the van and then sit back and collect the money.
Our overworked RCMP officers should not be operating speed traps in the city limits. I would guess it would take 1.5 man hours to park and retrieve each van. At $30 an hour, that’s $45 per van per day vs $400 for an RCMP officer to sit there all day.
The province of B.C. had hundreds of these vans in the ICBC compound in Vancouver for years. They may still be there. In any event, the City of Vernon should pick up half a dozen used vans, install the camera equipment which now costs a fraction of what it did 20 years ago and start mailing out the speeding tickets. The revenue could be used to house the homeless. Come to think of it, that’s not a bad idea.
Will Rogers
Vernon