Where is this mans contact info?
I am sure this referendum will be successful if the legislooters FOLLOW the LAW and intent of the law.

Is it even possible since it is a revenue generating law?

Or if it is for "safety" as they say then it CAN be out to referendum.

Contact info is needed.
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Fed up:

I'll get it and update the blog post. Stay tuned.

-- David

I Don't like speed cameras

its nothing more than a money raising scheme for the State,just like the seat belt law,the texting while driving law,and stop light law.How about a law that make all our politicans take a drug test.And a law that holds someone respondsable for having 40 Million Dollars of tax payer money andthey say no one knew about it,I wonder how much money was skimmed from that account

If it was really about safety, then make the fine for speeding in a school or work zone $1,000 and 5 points on your license. I bet you it wouldn't take long before people slowed down in these areas. This is a money grab and guess what, all the politicians, and other users of government cars won't have to pay the tickets, you the citizens of Maryland will. When will people wake up and vote these people out of office?

Speed cameras are a money grab plain and simple! Anyone who thinks they are for safety reasons are just fooling themselves!

IT'S ALL ABOUT THE DAMN MONEY!

What bothers me about speed cameras is that they are managed by a 3rd party who is paid by the citation. I believe there are laws in MD against that.

People need to know that the speed camera authorization legislation mandates that localities only collect 10% of the revenues and the rest go to the state's general fund. In other words, 90% of each $40 speeding ticket will go the state coffers the same way sales tax and income taxes go to the state. It is clearly just another tax.

And why should someone on a speed camera doing 12+ get a lower ticket than someone doing 12+ pulled over by a police officer? How do they know who the driver of the vehicle is?

I am adamantly opposed to this legislation. I would support tripling the number of police officers on the street, but substituting them for speed cameras that will ticket anyone is insane!

If you are obeying the law, speed cameras are a non-issue. It's the people who break the law who bark the loudest!

I guess everyone would rather have speed humps instead. Speed cameras only target the speeders, speed hump punish everyone.

With the slots fiasco our brain dead leaders cooked up this idea to further tax the citizens of Maryland. Why not take stimulus money and build speed bumps at the schools, protecting every student at the school.
Another revunue grab by Annapolis.
I am going to regester as A Democrat so I can vote every dam incumbent out of office starting from MOM all the way down.

Speed Humps?

I would rather have the legislooters who voted for this theft lay in the road to slow us down at every school crossing.

Sign me up!! This is not about safety, it's about MONEY!!

I know this is whole differnent topic but what so you think about this idea.

How about someone start a petition on having term limits on General Assembly in Annapolis as well as the Congress in DC.

Maybe we can get enough signatures to put on next election ballot.

If the President and Governor has term limit why not them?

Here is another start a petition to have them work for 30 years to earn that taxpayer retirement we give them now.
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Les:

Maryland does not allow initiatives to be petitioned to referendum, unlike California and other states.

To accomplish what you seek would require a constitutional amendment, which does need voter approval at the ballot box, but only after a super-majority of the Assembly approves it. Wanna guess the likelihood of lawmakers voting themselves out of a job?

-- David

I know this is whole differnent topic but what so you think about this idea.

How about someone start a petition on having term limits on General Assembly in Annapolis as well as the Congress in DC.

Maybe we can get enough signatures to put on next election ballot.

If the President and Governor has term limit why not them?

Here is another start a petition to have them work for 30 years to earn that taxpayer retirement we give them now.

Maybe if they have to work just as long as us taxpayers for their retirement money maybe they would find better solutions for problems in Social Security that we could be facing in the near future.

Les, unfortunately there is no mechanism in our law to bring a citizen initiative.
There IS a ballot question on the 2010 ballot asking if the citizens of Maryland want to hold a Constitutional Convention. A YES vote will ONLY allow the PEOPLE, NOT the legislooters to look at the Maryland Constitution and see if any additions or deletions or no changes should be made.
mdconvention.org for more info.

IF a Convention is held, and changes to the Constitution are suggested, it then goes back to the PEOPLE to vote yes or no on those changes.
The legislature DOES NOT have any say over the process or any veto power over the results of said convention. It is TRULY of the people by the people.

The PEOPLE write the Constitution with which the PEOPLE decide their form of government.
See our existing constitution.
Article 1. That all Government of right originates from the People, is founded in compact only, and instituted solely for the good of the whole; and they have, at all times, the inalienable right to alter, reform or abolish their Form of Government in such manner as they may deem expedient.
Art. 6. That all persons invested with the Legislative or Executive powers of Government are the Trustees of the Public, and, as such, accountable for their conduct: Wherefore, whenever the ends of Government are perverted, and public liberty manifestly endangered, and all other means of redress are ineffectual, the People may, and of right ought, to reform the old, or establish a new Government; the doctrine of non-resistance against arbitrary power and oppression is absurd, slavish and destructive of the good and happiness of mankind.

With this convention we can add term limits for all elected officials , voter initiated RECALL of all elected officials and ballot initiatives like they use in California with some success.

We need to EXERCISE this right since it only comes around every 10 years.

Voting YES ONLY means we want to LOOK at the present Constitution, it does not mean it changes it.

Well count me on Yes to review. We need to get the word out on this so people will remember.

The problem with this world are people like Zippi Do Dah- so naive or dumb to think that if you obey the law you have nothing to fear from photo enforcement schemes. Nothing could be further from the truth and there are plenty of documented cases to prove it if you look around. I bet ZDD probably thinks there aren't any innocent people convicted in prison either! And those people had 10x as many constitutional or judicial protections as a rightly or wrongly accused speed camera victim! Give me a break! Aside from creating a law enforcement system that is primarily designed to collect as much money with as little judicial protection to the accused as possible (in red light cases it's reduced yellow light times and in speed cams it's often uncalibrated/improperly maintained radar in addition to other faults like false readings triggered by speeders going the other direction by you, etc. coupled with a presumption of guilt), the issue is in a free society how do we want to be governed? By constant surveillance that diminishes our sense of self-autonomy and liberty to exist freely among each other? I don't think so. As someone who has a perfect driving record I am all for enforcing our traffic laws, however creating a system that diminishes the integrity and original purpose behind traffic safety laws is not the solution. There is little evidence to show that photo enforcement actually accomplishes its purported goal, safety, and evidence to show that it actually does the opposite. There are plenty of financial figures to show that photo enforcement does accomplish its concealed goal, which is to raise revenue even if a little trickery and entrapment by the authorities is required to do it

When did speeding become a right? I don’t think you will find that right in the constitution. Speed cameras sound like the ultimate users fee to me. I say put one every mile on every road and rake in the money. Top ten reasons for speed cameras:
10. Speeding contributes to more wear & tear on your vehicle
9. People who speed contribute more to global warming.
8. Speeding burn more fuel keeping the USA dependant on foreign energy sources.
7. No one has a right to speed and endanger my life.
6. Installing the cameras will create jobs
5. Maintaining those cameras will keep people employed.
4. The cameras will keep policeman from setting up radar traps (remember there will be one every mile)
3. Watching for the cameras will make drivers pay attention to driving. (keep the cameras mobile so drivers don’t get use to slowing down at certain places)
2. The State of Maryland will make a ton of money.
And the number one reason for having speed cameras…..
1. THEY WILL SAVE LIVES

I can’t think of one “good” reason not to have them. Driving is a privilege. Unsafe driving and not obeying the law are top reasons for losing that privilege. If you don’t want to pay SLOW DOWN.

Currently speed enforcement happens mostly on nice weather days on freeways which are designed for speeds exceeding the posted limits. Troopers darting out of their hiding points, across multiple lanes and chasing down the offender who then gets humiliated on the shoulder and has to wait an eternity until the paperwork is done. Why is this acceptable to those who are against speed cameras in school and work zones? Doesn't it make infinitely more sense to enforce speed in areas where pedestrians, children and construction workers are endangered by speeders? Doesn't it make more sense to do this with a camera than with a wild chase which puts other drivers at risk? Why all this hate against those who are for enforcing the rules? If folks think the rules make no sense, why not petition your local traffic department to remove a nonsensical speed limit? Can't this "no government' crowd see that they need government to build the roads on which they want to speed?

opposed to speed cameras"it has come apparent to me that our government is out of control.this is a money grabbing scheme.we continue to lean to a police state in the name of justice.in no way am i agreeing with speeding or running a red light.we are being led in a direction that is making driving more dangerous.

I saw in yesterday's print edition where a reader named Jennifer suggested that only those who violate the law would complain about it. Or, to phrase it another way, if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about. Which, of course, we all recognize as the fascist threat of larger offenses to our civil liberties, such as warrantless wiretapping and the PATRIOT Act. Apparently Jennifer has not been the target of a malfunctioning camera, which is very common (just google "malfunctioning red light camera"). And she's never had to go to City Hall to fight such a citation. Civil liberties notwithstanding, we shouldn't be issuing tickets to drivers on the basis of equipment, let alone consistently fauly equipment.