An Open Letter to Edmonton City Officials

qiaohe

James C. Walker, a Board Member and Executive Director of the National Motorists Association, recently wrote a letter to Edmonton City Officials that with his permission, we would like to openly share with the public:
$ M  R9 I! ?% b- Y2 y) W: YDear Edmonton Officials:
I have several points.
6 w4 ]5 k, N  o$ A1) The $543 ticket to Jack Shultz for “Pedestrian Stunting”, warning passing cars of speed radar ahead, proves for certain that the city WANTS people to speed so they can collect revenue from the tickets. Many people all over North America have long believed the Edmonton’s photo enforcement program is operated almost entirely for revenue, not safety. Now that belief has been proven beyond any reasonable doubt.
) Z/ K0 @# ~( f) w, R  [' U6 z2) If the city of Edmonton actually wanted people to slow down and not get tickets for speeding the city would encourage more people to do what Jack Shultz was doing so people would slow down. But if people actually slowed down, the expensive radar ticketing for profits program would collapse in financial losses.
; k  V' H& d, S. a2 Z2 ]3) I assume that the city will now embark on a ticketing blitz at $543 each against similar behavior by other pedestrians such as the ones on the sidewalks that advertise pizzas and similar products. In the short run, this could raise substantial revenue – although the owners of the shops selling products that are commonly advertised that way will probably not be very supportive of such a ticketing blitz.
2 q& K6 N1 j( P( B6 Y4) The knowledge of this incident quickly spread far beyond the borders of Edmonton. It is among the most abusive and outrageous incidents of its kind that ever became public. It would be fair to say it is now infamous that Edmonton WANTS people to speed, and will punish anyone who tries to slow people down.
5) The hypocrisy of severely fining people who were slowing traffic speeds is beyond appalling to anyone who values honor, fairness and justice.
2 r& D( I4 D! X9 @3 `6) Despite the massive and predatory ticketing for revenue program with about 11 times more speeding tickets than similar-sized Ottawa, your safety results are worse.
& W6 k6 k4 ?( P1 I) \; R+ u. I7) Edmonton’s long run reputation as a predatory traffic enforcement city for revenue is quite well deserved.
# y" d$ W1 X9 m& q8) And when police officers came back to hassle his children when he went back out, the city lost every atom of respectability and honor.
In total opposition to your actions in this area,
James C. Walker
Life Member, National Motorists Association
8 n; S( ]# y3 p3 p1 _5 bBoard Member and Executive Director, National Motorists Association Foundation

  S! T2 I" z1 }; ~https://fairalbertaroads.ca/blog ... ton-city-officials/
" M9 X  ^, I4 {, I# ~) U/ q: j. O

. D& K: k1 d: Q" P
7 S" @) w: ?% M- @' }