Photo radar and red light cameras are not and never have been about safety. Politicians can pay all the lip service they want about safety, but the primary purpose always has been and always will be revenue enhancement. In other words...a back door tax. Anyone who believes otherwise is either naive and/or stupid.
So true. One of the more popular morning-drive radio talk hosts here (Rick Hamada) has been driving that point home quite well - a lot of people are crediting him with getting sufficient public awareness out there that the legislators were afraid for their jobs if they didn't repeal the cameras. In addition to "Tali-Van" sightings, whenever the topic comes up he plays the "Ka-ching" sound effect.
Right. One key observation is that many people tend to be more safety-concious than law-concious. There will be many more people driving 40mph in a "school zone" when there are no children anywhere near the road than when there are children milling about in the street, but the few people who do it in the latter time pose a much greater danger--despite their smaller number--than the many who do in the former.
Nonetheless, guess where the enforcement efforts will go?