Red light cameras arouse protest from libertarians

Senate candidate Don DeZarn and Assembly candidate Sean O’Connor protested the township’s use of red light cameras Monday.

The libertarians, who both live in East Windsor, spent a little less than two hours at the intersection of Route 130 and Dutchneck Road. The intersection is one of two locations where the township has installed a traffic signal light monitoring system.

The monitoring system has a camera and sensors that work with the Led traffic signal to produce images of vehicles that run red lights. Law enforcement officials review the still photos and video produced by the system to determine if a violation has occurred.

”I talk to a lot of people, and the only people I have found in East Windsor who support having a red light camera in the township are our council members and our mayor,” Mr. DeZarn said. “So, long story short, we decided to exercise our First Amendment rights and conduct a protest.”

Both men held signs that stated, “Red light cameras suck. Call Mayor Mironov.”
The traffic signal lights included East Windsor Township’s telephone number and Mayor Janice Mironov’s direct extension.

”Our signs indicated our displeasure with red light cameras along with the mayor’s phone number,” Mr. DeZarn said. “I firmly believe we need to remind our elected officials that we do not work for them. They work for us. So we were just out there conducting some good old-fashioned grassroots activism, hoping to show our fellow citizens that it is OK to stand up to our government when they are doing something we believe is wrong.”

Mr. O’Connor said the cameras on the Led arrow lights are an invasion of privacy. He also said they can fail to identify drivers correctly due to programming errors.

”It is not the most effective way to reduce the number of people driving through red lights,” Mr. O’Connor said. “The best way to do this is extend the yellow signal time.”

Mr. O’Connor and Mr. DeZarn also see the cameras as another means for the government to take more money from its citizens.

”Since most red-light runners aren’t purposely doing so and are merely forced to either stop too fast or run the red light, this also makes it clear that it’s a setup and that the real motive behind cameras on the solar power traffic lights is revenue,” Mr. O’Connor said.
Last edited by chris12131 on Oct 23, 2013, 10:10:03 PM

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