Letters to the Editor: Red-light cameras, reducing debt, patient care

Red-light cameras

Saturday letter-writer Bob Lipka can't understand why some of us want to repeal the red-light-camera law.

It's simple, really, and it isn't because we want to run red lights. It's because we don't want an environment where, if we mistime the traffic light, we feel the need to slam on our brakes for fear of getting an expensive ticket. This increases the chances of rear-end collisions.

It's because we don't want a situation where municipalities can simply shorten the duration of the yellow light at camera intersections to raise more money. It's because we don't like the fact that people can get tickets for actions that put nobody's life in danger, such as stopping with the front wheels a few feet over the line.

It's because we don't like the idea that the camera identifies only the owner of the car, not who was driving. It's because the camera cannot always show the full story, such as a driver going through a light, with no cars coming the other way, to make room for an approaching emergency vehicle.

At the very least, the law must clearly forbid cameras from being used to issue tickets for minor infractions, and the law needs to be uniform statewide.

Without that, repeal the law. Lengthening the duration of the yellow light and parking police cruisers at problem intersections can reduce red-light running without imposing more fines on the public.

Bob Schmerling Altamonte Springs

GOP must get serious about reducing debt

Contrary to the Sentinel's editorial, "Obama must get serious about dealing with debt," on Thursday, it is congressional Republicans who must get serious about debt reduction if progress is to be achieved.

The best debt reducer is a growing economy. The biggest obstacle to growth that is within the control of government is the fiscal minefield laid out by Republicans due to their refusal to negotiate the balanced debt-reduction plan that the Sentinel's editorial ? and the great majority of economists and voters ? calls for.

Republican intransigence has led to a series of past and potential growth-withering standoffs over the debt ceiling, sequestration and the so-called fiscal cliff.

When Obama instituted savings to Medicare, Republicans used the cuts to run against Democrats in this past election. The same cynical strategy would be employed if he proposed cuts to defense spending or Social Security.

Closing loopholes exploited by the wealthy would raise revenue with less harm to the economy than large-scale cuts in benefits to the middle class and the poor, who would be forced to cut their spending to compensate.

Thus, this strategy, while not a complete solution, should be emphasized, not shunned, as it has been by Republicans.

Robert Oksner Winter Park

Physicians are losing control of patient care

In a letter to the editor on Saturday, Terrie Watkins, an advanced registered-nurse practitioner, wrote that Florida should not limit the right to prescribe controlled substances to physicians.

She lamented that she often has to send her patients home on over-the-counter pain medication after major surgery, as she is not allowed to prescribe narcotic medication.

Any patient who has undergone major surgery has a surgeon to prescribe pain medication.

Source: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/os-ed-letters-red-light-cameras-022013-20130219,0,811430.story?track=rss

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