Our Views: Mangano’s $3 million oops

The Island Now

From the outset we have been strongly opposed to the county’s plan to install speed cameras in school zones. The news last week that the county has dismissed more than $3 million in speed-camera tickets issued over the past month is all the proof we need that this is nothing but a money-making gimmick disguised as a public safety initiative.

After just one month the public is outraged and they have every right to be. 

In most cases drivers didn’t know that the cameras were in use while summer school was in session and, worse yet, some drivers received tickets issued on days when school was not in session.

Why didn’t the county wait until the children returned to school in September?   

Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano told reporters, “I don’t have a high confidence level that the cameras were operating at statutory levels. So we are declaring amnesty with all tickets issued this summer.”

The incompetence is staggering. According to Mangano’s spokesperson, in one month, the county issued 30,108 “valid citations” at five school district locations, totaling more than $2.4 million. 

In addition 9,807 citations were issued in error because of incorrect enforcement dates, totaling $784,560 in fines.

He said 7,676 tickets from one fixed-camera location where summer school ended before the camera went live.

Mangano has not disclosed how much it will cost to correct this mistake. The county is currently returning fines that were already collected and advising drivers that they can throw their tickets in the trash.

Whether or not school was in session, we are alarmed that nearly 40,000 drivers were reportedly caught speeding at just five locations. 

If the problem is that bad and the primary goal is public safety, why not assign patrol cars with flashing lights to these locations? We suspect that most of these drivers never would have been ticketed by a police officer with the ability to use discretion and common sense.

This program has never been about public safety. The truth is simple: a cash-strapped county is looking for easy ways to make money.

One baby-boomer driver told Newsday that 11 speeding tickets totaling $880 arrived in her mailbox on the same day. Other drivers told of similar nightmares.

At the moment 33 speed cameras have been installed. The county has yet to decide where the remaining cameras will be placed.

Nassau County Legislator Judith Jacobs (D-Woodbury) called the existing signage for this initiative woefully inadequate. Drivers don’t notice it, she said.  

Jacobs suggested the signs should be larger, in color, with flashing yellow lights. Of course, if the county did that, there’s a good chance it would make less money defeating the whole purpose of the cameras.

These cameras are nothing but a Mayberry-style speed trap that gained bipartisan support from a county government that can’t balance a budget.

We’d prefer to see the cameras and the system running them juked. 

But if that won’t happen, we urge the county to install the type of signage Jacobs has called for and, once the cameras are back online, create a one-month introductory period during which drivers will get a written warning in the mail that a camera caught them speeding in a school zone.

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