Big Brother’s Lesson

Okay—it finally happened to me. In a part of town I frequent often that’s well-known for its red-light cameras, I finally got caught. Actually, the red-light camera gnomes were quite sneaky… my incident was recorded at an intersection just before the obvious cameras in the area. Beware everybody—they’re hiding them now!

I truly believe the cameras are the biggest money-making scheme that any city or county could ever discover. I could pay $50, or pay $65+ to contest it. Either way I would lose, so I sent in my $50 to avoid a trip downtown, if nothing else.

The point of my letter is this: As a person who thinks these cameras are the most amazing rip-off Big-Brother thing I’ve ever seen, it did teach me a lesson. Now, even in my own neighborhood, I stop completely at stop signs and I now stop completely at red lights before turning right, usually annoying the drivers behind me.

When my brother and sister and I were growing up, if we had a break-up with a boyfriend or girlfriend my mother used to always say, “Well, he/she served their purpose.” I’m thinking that the red-light cameras have served their purpose as far as my driving patterns are concerned. I have learned a lesson but I still think they’re somehow unconstitutional!

Susan Watson

Knoxville

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