This latest piece of iPhone news just goes to show you that you don’t need any logical reasoning skills to be Washington DC’s Police Chief. Cathy Lanier, the US capitol’s Top Cop, apparently doesn’t like the fact that speed-trap and red-light camera tracking iPhone applications, such as Trapster (iTunes link), are helping DC motorists avoid being caught by the fuzz. Ms Lanier told The Examiner that she thinks that these types of iPhone applications are “designed to circumvent law enforcement — law enforcement that is designed specifically to save lives.” She even goes so far as to call the iPhone applications a “cowardly tactic.”
The Washington DC area boasts 10% of the red-light and speed cameras in the entire US – that’s a whopping 290 cameras throughout the greater DC area. All those cameras generated some $1 billion in annual revenue from 2005 to 2008, so it’s obvious that those speed-trap systems are big money for the nation’s capitol. In comparison, the current fiscal year is only expected to see $29 million in revenue from speed and red-light cameras.
So, why is Lanier upset? Doesn’t a drop in revenue from camera-generated tickets mean that DC drivers are actually driving slower and more safely? Does it matter why these drivers are driving slower? We’re not sure why she’s pissed, but seeing annual revenue drop down to 3% of the previous years’ bottom line would bunch up anyone’s panties.
[Via: WashingtonExaminer]