Use modern technology to halt speeding cars

To the editor: In a recreational community such as Lake Mohawk with its’ many attractions comes increased foot and bicycle traffic. County roadways such as East Shore Trail unfortunately receive short shrift when it comes to the posting of road safety signage and other measures such as speed humps to reduce the incidence of speeding. The county simply won’t favor one of its’ roads over another unless there’s some catastrophe, heaven forbid. And the police will tell you that they can’t be everywhere all the time, which is true enough. But there is a device that can be everywhere all the time, at least in the minds of motorists, and that device is proving itself to be the most effective deterrent to speeding ever devised-- the portable radar camera. A recent article in the Washington Post on the use of portable radar cameras on local D.C. Streets reported dramatic decreases in speeding and pedestrian injuries—upwards of 80 percent in many cases. It seems that just the posting of road signs warning that “Radar Cameras May Be In Use” makes the brake lights go on—and saves lives. Portable radar cameras quickly pay for themselves and keep on paying in the form of revenues generated from the automated traffic tickets they generate (millions in the case of heavily populated D.C.-certainly tens of thousands for a town like Sparta). It’s time to turn technology loose on the drivers who endanger us all. How about it, Mr. Mayor? James R. Heckel Sparta