From The Newspaper

I continue to be amazed by things that I read in the newspaper. Recently I read about a city or a township in South Carolina that is supposed to be the only one along route 95 that regularly uses radar. And they claim that they only ticket those who are going 80 mph or more. And during the time that they have been doing this the number of accidents and road deaths has dropped dramatically. However, they have come under fire by several local and state legislators who claim that it is only being done to raise revenue and that it is creating bad public relations. They want it stopped. Now come on - it's only those going 80 mph or more that are ticketed and it has improved safety. That is bad public relations? And in a time when all public bodies are in debt and having revenue problems, what is wrong by charging those who don't want to obey the law? It seems to me that this is better than raising the taxes of law abiding citizens. Having recently driven on routes 281, 30, and 222, I wish PA would enforce speeding laws instead of cutting funds for education. Then there was the article about a lawmaker from Montana railing against the state's drunken driving reform because it is harmful to small businesses. He said tough DUI laws "are destroying a way of life that has been in Montana for years and years." Until only recently, Montana had one of the most permissive drunken driving cultures in the country. Montanans could legally sip a beer while driving and repeat DUI offenders tallied sixth and seventh offenses with little punishment. And he is upset with the laws which are attempting to correct this. Obviously this lawmaker has never had a friend or relative killed by a drunk driver. Now if it were up to me, a DUI would mean an automatic minimum of five years in jail and ten years without a license. A second offense would result in a life sentence. That would really make the highways safer overnight. But then we really don't want to get serious about drunk driving since so many, including lawmakers, do it. Then there was the article about a local man who was pulled over for a traffic violation when he ran a red light. Police reported it was the 21st time he had been stopped while driving on a suspended license. Now come on, 21 times and he is still driving. Why wasn't he thrown in jail the second or third time? Finally, there is the sad story of the 18-year-old senior who was killed on his way to school. Ironically, he was on a highway named after his father, a soldier killed in Afghanistan in 2006. The driver of a truck crossed over the center line and smashed head-on into his car. The driver of the truck had lost his license a year earlier because he had 14 tickets since 2003, most of them for speeding. And once again I wonder why we allow offenders like that out to continue to break the law and kill innocent people. It is a strange and sad society where lawmakers protest enforcement of speeding and drinking laws and we allow violators to continue to endanger our lives on the highways. It always has been a good idea to pray for safety before driving, but now it appears to be a necessity. So beware and take care. The person coming at you might be drunk, might be speeding, or might not even have a license. Today's America - the home of individual rights and freedoms.