A traffic camera solution: No speeding, no fine

Regarding the Nov. 4 Style article "Shudder Speed," on the controversy over traffic cameras:

I would like to offer the simplest solution of all: Perhaps motorists should obey the laws of the road on which they have the privilege of driving.

I have heard many arguments against the cameras that are described as "demons" of the road. Montgomery County statistics state that 99.7 percent of all photo-enforced violations are upheld when appealed in traffic court. People curse or vandalize or even destroy the cameras and cite them as an example of "big-brother government."

Of course, there tends to be less outrage over technological innovation that augments our lives directly and in a nonpunitive manner. Department of Motor Vehicles offices are not being vandalized because I can renew my license online without wasting two hours in a branch office. No one protests being able to file their tax returns from their homes at 2 a.m.

Speed and red-light cameras augment our lives, too, only in ways that seem to be lost on most people. They produce safer roads and intersections. They allow officers to attend to duties other than traffic stops. I would rather those officers be creating a police presence where violent crime and gang activity are high and attending to our area's most troubled neighborhoods.

I know it is "inconvenient" to receive that $40 citation in the mail. But it doesn't mean this high-tech enforcement system isn't serving its purpose.

Mac McGuirk, Alexandria