Red-light racket; kudos to Price; unregulated power

Red-light racket

I agree with those protesting red-light cameras.

I’ll agree they prevent certain accidents, but I have seen near-collisions. As I approach a controlled light, I am more aware of the rear-view mirror than the road.

The cities use these for revenue. They actually trick up the lights to raise more money.

By law, the yellow light must be between 3-6 seconds. On the same street, the uncontrolled lights have 5-6 seconds, but the controlled light has the minimum 3 seconds.

This increases the odds of someone going through the red light. It is obviously set up to trap the driver who expects 2-3 seconds more on yellow.

Finally, the lights exact penalties on the owner of the car, not necessarily the driver.

There is no way to confirm who is driving. My daughter runs the light, but the ticket comes to me.

And now, some jurisdictions want to penalize me at registration for the actions of someone else.

— Charles Andrews, Fort Worth

Kudos to Price

Good for Mayor Betsy Price for standing up for the policeman who was shot.

Worker’s comp adjusters make likable neighbors who mow their lawns and wave good morning.

But once empowered behind their metal desks in their cubicles, many become enemies of anyone inconsiderate enough to be maimed while working.

As an attorney, I have dealt with adjusters since 1977.

Mistreatment of injured workers is more common than not. And the system is rigged so it is next to impossible to get anyone to fight the comp system, which was enacted in 1992.

Price is taking big steps for the gunshot victim police officer.

I am happy I voted for her.

I feel for other officers who were injured and are having to deal with CorVel Enterprises Comp.

— Chuck Noteboom, Fort Worth

Unregulated power

We still have two gorilla-sized electricity producers in the state and they want to get bigger by building new plants, or possibly by joining forces or just buying up the smaller ones.

Consumers are never better served when the “bigs” are allowed to do this.

The Texas Public Policy Foundation has convinced Rep. Matt Krause to file a bill allowing this to happen.

The federal government has allowed three major U.S. air carriers to now control the entire market. Delta Airlines has reported that the current drop in crude will save them $1.8 billion in fuel costs, but that all this will be passed on to stockholders without airfares being lowered.

In a truly competitive market, how can a company follow this business plan and also announce it to the public without fear of losing market share?

It is because they have formed a cabal with the other two “biggies” and divided up the market “pie.” Since none of them will be dropping ticket prices, they can simply thumb their noses at us and do as they please.

The same will hold true if the two unregulated mega power generators in Texas are allowed to do the same.

— John T. Johnson III,

Arlington

This story was originally published February 4, 2015 at 5:49 PM with the headline "Red-light racket; kudos to Price; unregulated power."