Catch Violators by Camera on Bluff

To the editor:

Over the past few months I’ve read, studied, and considered the many letters written concerning suggested solutions to La Granges notorious highway hazard known as the bluff road. Having spent some years as a Texas Highway Patrolman l’m quite familiar with traffic control and with meeting and managing the public. Not always to everyone’s satisfaction but always a hazard to my health and safety as cars whizzed by as I stood on the roadway shoulder writing a well-deserved speeding ticket. On the bluff road there is no good nor safe way for an officer to clock and stop a violator.

What I propose is a system which eliminates face to face confrontation, the embarrassment to the violater, and insures the safety of the patrolmen. It saves Texas $300 million dollars in road construction, doesn’t do harm to anyone’s property and eliminates the need to hire more personnel. Not only that but it also becomes a valuable source of income for the county which could possibly reduce taxes over time.

While living in South Africa which is notorious for non-confrontational highway speed management, I observed the use of unmanned camera boxes which take a photograph of the offenders’ license plates, his/her smiling face and indicates the time of day and speed of the vehicle. In about a week, said offender receives a summons in the mail with said photo and information requesting that they honorably pay the fine levied. The fine is based on a sliding scale according to the indicated speed. This in a sense makes the system interactive as the driver has the ability to either increase or decrease the amount, he/she is required to pay should they exceed the posted speed limit. Payment can be made in a variety of ways. By mail, online or in person. How convenient! Oh yes, I forgot to mention that failure to pay by the due date will incur a further penalty called Failure to Appear, which generally doubles the fine. Oh, by the way, to completely ignore said summons could make it impossible for you to register your vehicle in the future until all fines are satisfied. Perhaps that’s why you see so many people walking there.

Fayette County has always been known for some form of notoriety or other so why not make money from becoming known as a unique speed trap? But to be fair, just place a big sign at both ends of the bluff road telling the public up front in big letters the posted speed limit and about the cameras located somewhere in the central portion of the road to let them decide for themselves whether they want to pay to play as well as how fast or slow they want to go. How simple. The player gets to make all the decisions, and the county grows greener and safer! Soon people may come from miles around to “Ooh and aah” at this marvelment. If they complain about invasion of privacy, you can tell them they only have themselves to blame and “We told you so up front.” While they are here, they might also want to read about the history of the Chicken Ranch. The ultimate in Fayette County pay to play.

M. B. Mitchell Round Top