So, what’s your excuse for running red lights? Late for work? Late picking up the kids/husband/wife? Didn’t think the signal was working? If I slammed on the brakes, I would have skidded into the intersection? Light changed while I was making a left turn? If I stepped on the brakes, I would have been rammed? I didn’t see any cars coming – what’s the big deal? Sorry, the camera at the intersection doesn’t care. It blinks once and sends a digital photo off to a distant “stationhouse” that mails you a $125 ticket – maybe more, maybe less. And if legislation pending in the Florida Legislature passes to set uniform statewide standards for operating red-light cameras, that ticket would cost you $155 to $158, enough to buy a week’s worth of groceries for a family of four.

As the incidences of red-light running and speeding increase along with congestion, densely populated roadways throughout Florida and across the country are becoming prime crash locations. Rather than obey legal limits, many drivers unthinkingly race through red lights and speed to their destinations on a daily basis without regard for the safety of others on the road. This sense of entitlement — my time is more valuable than your safety — combined with a low expectation of being caught is responsible for rampant disrespect for the rules of the road and an upward trend in all forms of aggressive driving, not only red-light running.

In 1996, a very short, seemingly innocuous editorial in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel welcomed the idea of setting up automatic cameras to snap photos of cars that run red lights. “A sensible way to save lives,” the newspaper wrote, blithely predicting that a “bill shouldn’t be controversial” to expand the use of video and still cameras throughout the state – and neglecting to mention that such cameras were illegal. Since then, more municipalities throughout Florida have climbed on the red-light camera bandwagon, preaching safety and pocketing big bucks, still evading the legal points. With the Legislature likely to tackle the lightening-rod issue, and as lawsuits against their use are pending in court, here are some blunt words: End the red-light-camera scam.

If red-light cameras are not the answer to improved safety at intersections, what are some things that might help and are less punitive to responsible, taxpaying drivers?

More than 3.8 million Floridians lack health insurance, Medicare or Medicaid. Two state plans have 6,000 enrollees — 0.1% of the state’s uninsured population.

By Diane Laney Fitzpatrick

I purposely don’t write a political blog. For one thing I don’t know enough about politics, and I’m not willing to watch any more 24-hour news than I already do. (Plus I hate nonfiction books.) Instead I write a humorous blog because I think it’s better to laugh at life than [...]

In Crist’s Achilles’ heel – his hug of Obama in 2009 in support of the massive federal stimulus program – the governor mired himself further in political mud.

Resist denigrating those who disagree, spend time with them examining why they believe as they do, and advance mutual interests through good-faith negotiation.

For Florida’s 114 specialty tags, the Legislature’s decision to sharply boost motorist fees is prompting drivers to steer clear of the plates.

By David R. Colburn

‘The sky is falling,” exclaims Chicken Little in the popular children’s story. This simple sentence by Chicken Little captures well American fears about the economy and the future of  our nation in 2010.
Seldom have Americans been more pessimistic about the future, for a variety of understandable reasons.
Americans regard the national debt, which [...]

By John KennedyAssociate Editor
Even in a state numbingly familiar with job loss, Florida’s Space Coast is about to stand out. By October, 9,000 aerospace jobs are expected to have disappeared at Kennedy Space Center, as NASA’s space shuttle program grinds to a halt with an uncertain commercial space industry the only real prospect for [...]

By Chester J. Straub Jr.
Fifty years ago, a culture of innovation gave birth to the U.S. space program. Challenged by the desire to explore and the need to compete globally, the United States set out to conquer space and, along the way, launched a technological boom on a scale never seen before.
Today’s climate is [...]

By Mary Jo Melone
Any tourist with a bottle of sun block could tell you that the renewable energy source with the most potential in the Sunshine State is, well, sunshine. So how could the Florida program to encourage people to use solar energy go broke?
Since 2006, the state has offered cash rebates to homeowners [...]

By Martha Musgrove
Associate Editor
Farmton is 92 square miles of pines and wetlands straddling Brevard and Volusia counties.  For the past 80 years, the land has been a tree farm supplying logs to saw mills and paper mills. As such, it drew little attention from its neighbors.
But looking ahead, Farmton’s owners could see only declining revenues [...]

By Diane Laney Fitzpatrick

I am wrapping up our busy tourist season here at Casa Fitzpatrick and if I don’t go on a diet soon, I’m going to become diabetic, get high cholesterol, and not be able to fit into my capri pants. And don’t make me put those in order of importance.