Don’t let speed cameras come to New Jersey!

There's something happening this summer in Trenton that has gone largely unnoticed so far, but not by us. Assemblyman Nicholas Chiaravalloti introduced legislation last week to establish a pilot program to bring speed cameras to New Jersey. They would be set up in work zones on highways where the speed limit drops, and if the camera snaps a picture of your plate doing more than 11 mph over the limit you will be issued a ticket in the mail. That ticket may come up to three months after the event, leaving you no chance to remember the circumstances and context.

I wrote about this earlier in the week, which you can read here. Along with that original post was a poll asking, "Should New Jersey start issuing speeding tickets through cameras?" An overwhelming 96% said no, that it would be all for the money and not for safety as is, of course, their premise.

Joe Votruba was filling in for Steve Trevelise Thursday night and he jumped on this cause as well. Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon, who rallied against the red light camera program, called in. Some of what O'Scanlon pointed out was that if allowed, speed cameras would turn out to be even worse than red light cameras. And he doesn't believe it will improve safety.

"You want traffic to flow smoothly. You don't want people slamming on their brakes." O'Scanlon said the dangers to workers in construction areas is being oversold to the public and that these cameras offer a solution for a problem that doesn't exist. "It will be a cash cow. It will be a regressive, arbitrary tax."

Votruba asked what he thought the chances were for its passage. O'Scanlon said, "It will be a matter of vigilance. Everybody listening tonight, call your legislators."

If you want to call the sponsor of the bill, Assemblyman Nicholas Chiaravalloti, his office number is 201-471-2347. If you'd like to tell Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto to never post this bill for a vote, his number is 201-770-1303.

You can find the phone numbers for all legislators through this link.

Check out Joe's full conversation with Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon in the video above, and please New Jersey, don't allow speed cameras on our roads. They'll start with work zones, but they'll soon be everywhere if you don't speak up.