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Annual West Pittston Cherry Blossom Festival celebrates life of mayor, continues Sunday

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Letter to the Editor: Wilkes-Barre zoning issue satisfactorily resolved thanks to informed community, says resident

<p>Calling for municipal police radar is a pure cash cow.</p><p>Speed limits are already underposted, and some proposed bills allow tickets at 6 mph over the limit. Radar makes many errors, and if multiple vehicles are present, it cannot tell which one generated the reading, if any.</p><p>Radar fails the Daubert test used in legal proceedings. This slippery slope will lead to moving radar, which can make even more errors, as well as LIDAR, which also has problems. Do an online search for &#8220;radargate revisited&#8221; and be amazed at what happened in Pennsylvania. It appeared to be common knowledge that radar errors were occurring.</p><p>The so-called experts pushing this also demanded red-light cameras. In Philadelphia crashes increased after these cameras went in. Then the same people called for speed cameras, stop-arm cameras, etc. All of these devices rely upon poor traffic engineering and predatory enforcement. This all leads to more crashes, tickets to safe drivers and erroneous tickets. If regular radar makes errors, just imagine what can occur with speed cameras!</p><p>Maximum safety on roads occurs when we have speed limits posted to the 85th percentile of free-flowing traffic speed, yellow traffic lights set to the 85th percentile plus an added pad, and stop signs only where needed. When you do the opposite, you will cause crashes and ticket safe drivers, including possibly the wrong drivers.</p><p>Please contact your state representative, state senator and the governor to oppose the above in Pennsylvania and demand best-practice engineering.</p><p>Also, recipients of tickets should be allowed to choose between community service or a charitable contribution.</p><p><strong>James Sikorski Jr.</strong></p><p>Wapwallopen</p><style>
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Letter to the Editor: Oppose radar as speed enforcement tool in Pennsylvania municipalities