An Illustration Of The Real Problem In America -- Obscuring Unpopular Realities

In the area in which I reside we have a beautiful old road which has been here in one form or another since the turn of the 20Th Century. It's called Cedar Swamp Road; a winding roadway which runs amidst multimillion dollar homes surrounded by an arboretum's worth of beautiful foliage. The scene exudes opulence.

Now the problem. Over the past four decades this road has become a major thoroughfare for the local population which has easily doubled in size in that time, while also offering passage to many out-of-town drivers who simply utilize it for their daily commute -- drivers who wantonly disregard the posted speed limit.

Unfortunately, this has led to many serious injuries over the years and a number of traffic fatalities which could have easily been avoided had the posted speed limits been obeyed.

Back in the early 1980's, a portion of Cedar Swamp Road underwent an expensive renovation, the result of a dangerous curve which claimed the lives of several careless drivers.

And since that time, there have been a number of traffic lights installed in efforts to help prevent such deaths, yet instead have mostly served to add further traffic congestion to a road which was built during a time in which the area's population was far smaller than in the present day.

Now another petition is being circulated in which to address the safety concerns regarding several neighboring roads which intersect with Cedar Swamp Road. The suggestions this time are even more ridculous and include two reflective posted radar signs which will give a digital readout of how fast speeders are traveling, in addition to retiming these lights for better traffic flow -- exactly how the geniuses behind this plan are going to accomplish this remains a mystery, since at rushhour there's hardly any traffic flow as it is.

How about a petition to rid the area of the organized stalking trash that has infiltrated it over the past five years? Now that's a constructive use of taxpayer time and money!

In reality these signs will only help to make Cedar Swamp Road look more like the Jersey Turnpike, while giving those who now speed the ability to calibrate their speedometers. Again, all done at the taxpayer's expense.

A far more effective means in which to affect traffic safety in this area would be to use a few of our traffic cops to strictly enforce the posted speed limit on Cedar Swamp Road 24 hours a day. A few cops regularly patrolling this roadway and enforcing a maximum speed limit would've already greatly reduced the number of serious injuries and traffic fatalities which have occurred here over the past few decades.


The Unfortunate Reality Of This Situation
What do town officials want more? To make money off of speeders or to save the lives of the motoring public?

Once a town gets used to having an income stream from a particular venue each month, it's virtually impossible to close that financial source down. It's not often that people give back found money, and when a town finds a profitable stream of income, it's even less likely to happen.

In this town, the loss of monthly revenue from speeding tickets would have a noticeably adverse affect on the local area's economy, which is why band aids like traffic lights and road alterations have always been deployed as alternatives to a full time police presence on these roads.

As usual, the real issue here is about money -- and lots of it.

And for this reason, serious concerns over local traffic safety will remain an important issue in the years to come, since motorists will continue to speed, be injured and even die.

As for our badged boys and girls in blue, one must also wonder how true their claim to not have ticket writing quotas each month is, when historically both the middle and end of each month seem to show a much heavier police presence on U.S. roadways than at other times during the same month?

Hmmm...

If these cops were out with such a presence for the remainder of each month, Cedar Swamp Road would get a reputation for being a speed trap, resulting in motorists traveling at the posted speed limits; or perhaps even finding an alternative route in which to travel -- a much better outcome in my opinion, since Cedar Swamp Road presently has at least twice the daily traffic that it was built to handle.

A situation which also results in the need for more frequent repairs on the road.

Furthermore, as a motorist, which are you likely to pay more attention to -- A police cruiser or a traffic light?

I rest my case.