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Monday, September 29, 2014

A Viewer Writes: How dumb is the State of Maryland?

Joe,

About 3 months ago the State Highway Administration deployed a Ford Escape equipped with a speed camera package at the construction zone near the Pocomoke River Bridge. This was probably justified.

Apparently some local residents were not amused and the camera car was vandalized by paintball guns, bags over the lens and other worthy citizen endeavors. In reaction, and not willing to give up, the State now deploys the camera car 16 hours on weekdays only, but the car is manned by paid employees whenever it is deployed. The State is basically paying for two employees, eight hours each, five days per week just to sit in the car and watch for vandals.

Assuming an average salary of $20 per hour that's $1,600 per week spent for people to just sit on their butts.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

And the very reason for having unmanned speed cams is to eliminate having to pay police salaries to sit and run radar.

Sounds like that plan isn't working!

Take the ticket to court. The camera contractors never show up to prosecute the tickets, and you're in and out of there in an hour!

The judge HATES speed cams!

Anonymous said...

I as a tax payer am not amused that some fool(s) decided to cause destruction to property that was not theirs to destroy.

I know from reading this blog most will be LYAO that a speed camera was destroyed. Not me. Vandalism is vandalism and if the persons paintballed your property it would not be so funny, would it.

Immediately in your mind the state is the stupid one. Until construction is completed police presence needs to be there for safety reasons. Who would be the first ranting "where are the cops" if there were several accidents or deaths in the bridge construction area. Thats right the ranting would come from the very same people who believe it was funny and right to destroy state property.

You might not like speed cameras but you are breaking the law when you destroy one. Therefore because of the stupidity of one or two hoodlums, we the people have to pay the price. But keep on showing your ignorance by blaming the state.

Anonymous said...

No state agency cares how tax payers money is spent.

Cathy said...

Well said 7:30am! I feel the same way.

Anonymous said...

Civil Disobedience - Everyone should slow down to 15 mph in the area of the speed camera and tie up traffic daily.

Anonymous said...

To 7:30 Poster

You must be a speed camera manufacturer and/or speed camera employee.

You need to take a reality pill and understand that your own government is out to bushwhack the average Joe Blow. I do not know how many times I have read about how much wealth is extracted by these contraptions - particularly from average citizens that have to pay rent, utilities, food, etc. The bottom line is your pail doesn't hold water.

Anonymous said...

i believe that car was placed there due to the many accidents on the bridge. the tourons would not slow down

Anonymous said...

The money spent is not real, only debt and will never be repaid. So why should anybody care from this point forward!

Anonymous said...

Put them higher.

Anonymous said...

I pass by that location several times a week. The car wan unoccupied Friday afternoon and this morning (Monday). But I've seen the guy hanging out at McDonald's across the street a lot. He's easy to spot with his orange safety vest.

Anonymous said...

I would be willing to bet the money gained from the tickets will more then offset the cost of the two employees. These cameras take in millions state wide.

Nice of the politicians to find a way to take your money in a more effective way. In 2008 our country basically went belly up. What did the leaders of this county do to help fix the situation? Let's see give billions to the bankers and found new and more effective ways to tax and fine Americans . being most politicians are in the 1% a simple speeding ticket means nothing to them. Most are driving government cars that are exempt anyways. Hell for that matter they have drivers.