School bus camera tickets, rules for pickups, bridge tolls, inflation poll

Pushing bus-ticket law a bit too far

This is a well-meaning law turned into a profit-making boondoggle [“Hitting brakes on bus cases,” News, March 22]. It was intended to stop vehicles on the opposite side of a road where a school bus is about to pick up or let off children. When applied to residential streets, this was well-meaning and deserving of a hefty fine.

But applying this when buses stop on main thoroughfares is different.

First, traffic often dictates the attention of drivers coming in the opposite direction. Drivers always need to be on the lookout.

Second, many of these streets are five or six lanes wide, including the center and right-turn lanes as you approach cross streets.

Third, citing a driver who might be two seconds away from passing a bus whose camera just opened and is five lanes to the left is poor judgment, allowing the software to cite a driver.

Fining a driver $250 or more is a disgrace and indicates the purpose is to make money.

Finally, don’t say that “it protects our kids.” Drivers in both directions have no excuse to pass a school bus stopped with red lights flashing on a residential street — but no child should ever be dropped off or picked up on a heavily trafficked commercial roadway.

— Jerry Bland, Middle Island

Most drivers know to stop when they are behind a school bus. However, when the bus is on the far-left side of a wide main road, it is difficult to even see the bus because of all the traffic. Also, coming to a full stop on a busy main road with fast-moving traffic can cause an accident.

We must also consider whether the bus on the far-left side is picking up students or dropping them off. If they are dropping off students, those students will not be running across the middle of a main road without a crossing guard. They will walk to the nearest corner with a traffic light and cross with a green light.

The ticket policy is unfair and stupid. There should be no ticket when the bus is coming from the opposite direction on a wide main road.

— Ralph Daino, Wantagh

My husband recently received a ticket for passing a stopped school bus in a Nassau County area that he has never been to. We weren’t even in New York on the date of the alleged violation. On closer examination of the photo, we saw that the plate number, year and color did not match his vehicle.

Is this a blatant money grab or do the plate-reader “specialists” need their eyes examined?

— Laura O’Neill, Northport

Also set rules for pickup trucks

They should also set rules about pickup trucks [“EPA sets new rules for trucks, buses,” LI Business, March 30]. Pickup trucks should be used only for people who need one for their jobs.

Also, the front lights on pickup trucks are too high and bright, causing problems for drivers in regular cars.

— Gary Henderson, Center Moriches

Poll on LI inflation is not representative

The article saying that a Siena College Research Institute poll found that eight in 10 Long Islanders say inflation undermines their finances is misleading [“LI’s inflation squeeze,” LI Business, March 15].

How could anyone take seriously a poll of merely 96 adults living on Long Island with a stated margin of error of 11.1%?

Nassau and Suffolk counties have nearly 3 million residents, so this sample size is not representative.

— Buddy Rosenblatt, Commack

Views on tolls differ over beach bridge

The Atlantic Beach Bridge Authority is a special authority that has refused to accept federal funds for years to maintain the bridge because repairs have repeatedly been paid for by tolls [“Group urges toll cuts for bridge,” Our Towns, March 22].

If the authority agreed to accept federal funds, the authority would also have to agree to dissolve itself, and the bridge would be repaired with federal infrastructure funds. And, and as a result, the tolls would be gone.

No one votes for the authority’s members, nor do they know anything about their compensation, be it perks or political affiliations.

Years ago, it was controlled by the local Republican Party leaders, and jobs on the bridge were patronage-based.

The tolls could easily have been eliminated, but rumors persist that residents think it deters crime in their neighborhood and serves as a moat around their castles. As a result, many love the tolls.

— Gabriele K. Libbey, Harbor Isle

The writer is a former Atlantic Beach village clerk.

Those opposed to higher tolls on the Atlantic Beach Bridge have it all wrong. What is needed is to junk the authority altogether and have no tolls, just like hundreds of other bridges throughout the region.

Treat it like a part of a highway.

— Peter Kelly, Medford