Letters: School speeding tickets vexing
A speed camera clocks vehicles traveling southbound on Utopia Parkway near 56th Avenue towards Francis Lewis High School in Queens on Sept. 2, 2014. Credit: Charles Eckert
In the last two weeks, my family has accumulated five speed-camera tickets ["School-zone cameras," News, Sept. 29]. This is outrageous! They are $80 each.
Is there anywhere we can go without cameras spying on us? We are really in trouble now in Nassau County. We have the some of the highest taxes in the nation, but there is never enough money for our politicians. Something is truly wrong here!
Nancy Diaz, Malverne
The battle rages on over speed cameras in school zones. It seems the consensus of Long Islanders is that to reduce speed for a few blocks will upset the balance of nature and cause untold damage to the psyches of motorists.
Legislators would have us believe that they are concerned about the safety of our children. Motorists believe that it is a just a different approach to raise money for the county government.
Whichever you believe, the fact is that it's now the law. So you can rage against the machine, or you can slow down and lose the few seconds that it takes to drive slowly through the school zone -- and at the same time stick it to the Nassau County legislators who believe that they can bleed money from the public to make up for their failure to control spending.
Chris Monzert, Lynbrook
I just finished the letter about the Nassau County speed cameras, in which the writer said Newsday's editorial is wrong ["Speed cams in focus," Sept. 28].
He believes there should be signs noting the location of cameras, otherwise this situation amounts to "speed traps." May I point out that slowing down in a school zone is the law? The reduced speed is posted, and it's the driver's responsibility to obey the law regardless of cameras.
If all drivers obeyed the speed limits, then the cameras wouldn't be an issue.
Jeannine Muthig, Shirley
