|
| |
01/09/06 -
Uninsured Drivers
I live in Garland. Several months ago,
I started sending my council representative lots
of information about uninsured drivers and their economic impact, as well as
information about other local cities starting to tow uninsured drivers.
The result?
I don't know if I started this ball rolling or if I was just part of a process
already under way. Garland is set to begin towing cars of uninsured
drivers. Soon. I hope the ordinance is written so that any driver without
insurance gets the car towed, not merely a driver in an accident.
| As to the suggestion someone else had about the red light cameras, I've heard it
said by the Garland City Council that the State legislators don't
like the cameras. Garland now has five
and wants to put in more to help fund a controversial helicopter unit for the
police department, and they
may take that money away from the municipalities that have the cameras,
leaving those municipalities to pay for the
systems out of their general funds and have no revenue
from the cameras. |
|
|
1/10/06 James
Northrup:
The companies
that install the cameras pay to have them installed and maintained.
They get paid out of a portion of the civil fines (not traffic
tickets) that are issued by the municipality to
the owners of the cars that run the red lights.
So, it is a
not a capital budgeting challenge for the City of Dallas.
If the fines are set high enough, it
can be a money maker for the city, because a busy intersection generates a
lot of fines. The City can do whatever they want to with the rest of the
money - like earmark it for the DPD.
State has no say in it, since it is
now a state law to allow cities to do this - as of the last
legislature.
The deal is between the municipality
and the camera operator - town by town. The state
is not in the deal - unless they impose some
license fee on the operators - in defiance of the towns.
Dallas should max out on the civil
fine, plus interest, and make this a profit center, give the net to DPD.
It is civil fine. The City
does not have to prove that the owner was the
driver. Just prove that the car went through
on a red - and fine the registered owner. |
|
As I put it to our council representative, you can't
afford a car if you can't afford insurance. It
is just as important as tires and oil, and mandated by the State.
John Willis
| |
|
