During his 2008 campaign, Barack Obama made few statements on the subject of transportation. Now that he has taken office, Obama has a lot on his plate besides transportation issues. As such, he’s appointed to Ray LaHood as the Transportation Secretary of the United States to oversee transportation policy decisions. Only problem is, LaHood and his new number two man love speed cameras and toll roads.

LaHood’s number two man, Deputy Secretary John Porcari, will serve as the Transportation Department’s chief operating officer, overseeing day-to-day operations.

Porcari recently headed Maryland’s transportation agency’s push to install speed cameras on every freeway. In April, Porcari was out supporting passage of a legislation allowing speed cameras in “work zones” that have no workers (we really hate those work zones – a lot).

Porcari had set the fine of a speed camera ticket at $2,000; however, the legislatures opted for a significantly reduced fine from Porcari’s original proposal.

Oh and if these two weren’t enough. President Obama has also nominated Victor M. Mendez to be Administrator of Federal Highway Administration. He recently coordinated state agencies and interest groups for the rollout of the state’s freeway speed camera program in Arizona.

Yeah – we’re not a fan of these guys at all.

- By: Kap Shah

Source: TheNewspaper (via TTAC)

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  • If you ever get a chance to check out http://www.trapster.com, let us know what you think!

    Stefanie
  • kabluey
    Speed Cameras are lame, they increase injury accidents by 31% on freeways and by a whopping 55% in work-zones. They-re dumb! The UK government themselves studied this, but still wanted the $1 billion (U.S.) in revenues that they generate each year.

    The only reduction comes from police patrols.
  • ASDF
    Speed cameras are stupid.

    Not because without them people will get away with speeding, but because there is no way to prove WHO was driving the car.

    Lets say you let your brother/sister/mom/dad/friend drive your car for some reason, and they speed and get caught by a "speed camera"

    Suddenly, you get a whopping bill in the mail for $2,000 and your insurance gets hiked for something you did not do.

    Fun!
  • Szeto
    you are funny ....
  • Neil
    ASDF, please that is the lamest argument there is!!!

    Camera's work at traffic signals where running red lights kills people and causes far higher insurance hikes.
    Also speed camera's work in areas where pedestrians are near cars (schools for instance) and where construction workers ARE present.

    However cameras do NOT reduce accidents on open freeways where there is no evidence speed causes more accidents. the death rate on German autobahns is almost the same as American freeways
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