Should Local Police Be Allowed To Use Radar Guns in Pennsylvania?

June 20, 2014


As you might expect I'm not quite as optimistic as Rep. Schlossberg. I agree 100% with him if these devices were used fairly with good justification in certain limited areas. However with Pennsylvania's budget coming up short around $1 billion I expect local municipalities will experience less funding coming from the state. If so, then the question becomes can local governments resist the temptation to use these to make up for the lost revenues? Those "if's" concern me.

Hopefully not, but there are still other issues to think about concerning the devices themselves.

On March 31st, 2014 in McDonough, Georgia TV2 reported " A Channel 2 Action News investigation uncovered that McDonough police wrongly ticketed thousands of people within the last decade.", This resulted in their suspending the use of them for several reasons. Check out the video to see why.

Then there's the issue of how well trained the officers will be using them. With radar guns there's the possibility if the guns aren't used properly they may pick up more then one target. Even possibly picking one up going in the opposite direction. Another technological problem with radar is it tends to pick up the stronger of two signals reflecting back to it. For example a large trailer or box truck reflects back a stronger signal. Thus it's speed would be recorded rather then the much smaller target vehicle in front of it. Weather is also a factor. Frequent and accurate calibration is one more (just as it would be with laser devices).

Speaking of laser speed devices. They too have inaccuracies if not held steady so that they are pointed on a very specific area of the vehicle in question.



It's possible speed guns could only be the first step. On March 26, 2013 CBS TV3 in Philadelphia reported "The I-Team found there’s a plan that would bring speed cameras to Pennsylvania." Which was reporting similarly to what 'Philly.com' also published prior on February 2, 2014-- "The cameras would photograph the license plates of vehicles moving faster than the permitted speed and generate a ticket that would be reviewed by police before being mailed to the vehicle's owner. The fine would be $100."

One of the more negative articles I came across was at 'Watchdog.com'. Published on May 9th, 2013. It said, "Speed Cameras: A Scam the Motorist Cannot Win-- The real truth about traffic cameras lies not in the amount of lives saved and accidents avoided, but in the enormous amount of revenue it supplies both the camera manufacturer and the jurisdictions that embrace these forms of policing for profit." While they did put it rather strongly they had some rather interesting background information. If true, they may not be too far off the mark. "One town in West Virginia with a population of only 3,200 issued more than 18,000 tickets in a single year, booking almost $4 million in revenue."


In Summery
Local radar and laser devices may only be the first step towards the further use of plentiful unmanned speed cameras.

While no one could argue against their potential safety value, neither can one rule out the possibility of their abuse by less then honest use of them. Nor deny succumbing to the temptation of using them to generate a revenue stream for locals.

When it comes to trust I'm always a bit skeptical. If we're going to do this let's create restrictive legislation that excludes (as much as possible) any abuse of these devices in favor of the motorists.

I'm of the mindset 'abuse it, lose it'. If motorists can't obey speed laws then they need to get tagged. Same goes if local enforcement can't behave themselves with these devices either. In other words I'd be in favor of legislation that would have to be renewed or left to expire after a certain period of time to see how it plays out. Is that going to happen? Probably not!