Photo radar for traffic control is long overdue
The tragedy-inviting driver behaviors and the dearth of roadway law enforcement just seem to get worse and worse. We've read recently of Anchorage Treasurer Dan Moore's concerns over shortfalls in revenue because of the paucity of traffic citations being issued by APD.
Collision deaths and pileups on the Glenn and Seward highways, hit-and-runs all over Anchorage, and foolhardy scofflaw driving behaviors are the rule rather than the exception.
People tailgate, don't use turn signals, or use them when they are already turning, text while driving, violate no-passing zones, run red lights and it all now seem to be the driving norms.
I see mothers drop their kids off at school, then zip back into the well-signed, blinking yellow-lighted school-zone traffic as if they're in the Daytona 500!
High-speed, tailgating lane-changers endanger cars full of men, women and children in order to get to that next highway exit or traffic light three seconds ahead of someone else. Driving courtesy and etiquette have become exceedingly rare occurrences — vanishing like some endangered species.
By all means, for both safety and for Moore's traffic citation revenue problems, let's make traffic law enforcement viable again by bringing in photo radar citations. Our state and local public safety budgets are tightening, traffic and driver behavior have worsened with time, and unenforced driving laws only encourage scofflaws.
Photo radar may have been an idea ahead of its time 20 years ago, but that was then. We have public and private safety and crime prevention cameras everywhere now, and they work to the public's benefit. The time has more than come to add this tool to the law enforcement toolbox!
— Clayton McDowall
Anchorage
Dunham is major ADN asset
The article about the new book "Coloring the Universe" was wonderful. It looks like a fabulous book. The article and the one below it about the 100Stone project also reminded me how much I appreciate the work of writer Mike Dunham. His writing draws you in. It is precise and distinctive. He tells the story without technical jargon but with enough detail and insight to give a true picture of the topic.
He is a major asset to your publication!
— Jim Thiele
Anchorage
Refugees may get inside scoop
It seems to me the paranoid party has once again gotten things backward.
To refuse historic sanctuary to refugees fleeing the atrocities of ISIS because of an unfounded fear of a terrorist sneaking in with them is both un-American and counterproductive. If we wish to stop any ISIS activity on our own soil, who better to keep an eye peeled for it than these same refugees who have suffered at the hands of ISIS, speak the language, and share a cultural background. A refugee would be the best positioned and motivated to "see (or hear) something and say something" within their new American community.
They would be as personally invested as blacks serving in the Civil War fighting slavery.
— Neal Matson
Fairbanks
Democrats exposed too
On Dec. 28, ADN printed a letter written by Jay Cross, 'Republicans exposed,' which in modern parlance could be only called "gross."
Whether the headline was concocted by the author or is just an exercise of ADN editorializing, it shows where ADN's preferences lie in our "red state."
But that's perfectly OK as long as the opposite view is also presented.
Cross calls the Republican party fascist, racist, misogynist and homophobic. So let's in return call the Democratic party communists, debauchers, liars, demagogues and unborn-baby killers.
— Rudy Budesky
Anchorage
The views expressed here are the writers' own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a letter under 200 words for consideration, email letters@alaskadispatch.com, or click here to submit via any web browser. Submitting a letter to the editor constitutes granting permission for it to be edited for clarity, accuracy and brevity. Send longer works of opinion to commentary@alaskadispatch.com.