- November 23, 2024
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Red light camera flashes disproportionate to number of violators
Dear Editor:
Quote from the June 26 edition of “Red eyes of doom”: “There were a total of 3,604 violation events this week.”
Do you honestly believe this many people intentionally ran red lights within a one-week period? Am I living in a town filled with thousands and thousands of criminals, or is it actually possible that this is an engineering problem?
Extending yellow light times would bring this number down by 80%. Add a half-second to the moderately bad intersections, and one full second to the heavy violation intersections, and I will bet $10,000 that these numbers will be reduced by 80%.
Ken March
Flagler Beach
Red light fees punish those who violate law
Dear Editor:
And yet again, "the red light fees are too high for a working family.” Could this be any more insane? The city of Palm Coast has not increased everyone's taxes to cover the red light violation fee, just for those who — are you ready for this? — run the red light.
To avoid this fee, don't go through a red light. Simple! And if you're traveling so fast that you have to "slam" on your breaks, well that's another issue that you need to address regarding your driving habits. Those families that are struggling to pay their bills (and there are many), just driving your vehicle according to the laws will result in no violation, no fee, no hardship. (Complainers) need to talk with someone who has been t-boned by a red light runner. This causes trauma, injuries and death.
We can't afford to station a deputy at every intersection or red light. Without some form of law enforcement at each location, those that are too impatient to wait for a green light will attempt to get through the intersection. The next best thing is a camera. I don't know the statistics, but I am willing to bet that since it's now known that Palm Coast has cameras at almost all of the intersections, the accident rate has diminished, and lives have been saved.
Ernest Hiscoe
Palm Coast
Editor's Note: The red light fees are not changing, only the fee for those who wish to appeal their citations.
Failed tax referendum will hurt students
Dear Editor:
Sometimes, I wonder about the people in this town — those of them who wrote to you last week about the voter turnout and about how we all said “no” to the proposed referendum. We all didn't say “no,” because 20% of Flagler County’s registered voters voted that Friday. I don't actually think that's a fair vote, do you?
True, we have a right to vote, but not too many people do. That goes without saying, of course. But, to be honest, if the vote isn't at least 75% of the population, how can it be passed or failed?
Now, I'm not going to just make this about politics, because I know there's a whole lecture that can be thrown out at me about this, so I am going to head into my next point: taxes. This whole thing is about how people don't want to have higher taxes. Yeah, taxes stink! But hey, someone has to pay them, so why not us?
This isn't only about taxes. This is about the future of this county. I'm talking about the students, if I haven't made myself clear enough. What gives us the right to take away from our educational system? Do we want a county full of people who don't know how to read or write or do basic math? To be honest, these voters only cared about money, that's all this really showed us. They didn't show their support for the arts, music, academics or even athletics!
Oh, but interestingly enough, the few people who might have voted “no” will want a tax write-off, so magically something new will just appear at one or two of the schools, if they don't combine them to make huge school building with students from K-8th grade. Oh and mind you, more students in the class room means teachers might not notice the student who is struggling more or could be getting bullied.
Why? Because these cuts mean lack of teachers in the school as well. To the parents of students next year, things will be different. You will most likely have to pay for everything that is in that class room, plus more! So thank you to those voters who said no, I hope you are happy with the future of this county.
Ruth Castillo
Palm Coast
Editor’s note: So far in its budgeting discussions, the Flagler County School Board has not discussed cutting the district's teaching staff. The board will discuss its budget for the next school year starting July 9.
