Why Red Light Cameras Kill Children

You are driving down the road. The speed limit is 50 miles per hour. You are approaching one of those intersections that has a red light camera. At your current speed of 55, you know it will be tough to stop at a yellow. You watch the light as you approach, saying to yourself, "please don't change, please don't change" over and over again. You switch from gas to break, gas to break, gas to break. The tension is building as you get closer and closer to the light.

You know what is going to happen. It always happens. As soon as your car gets close to the intersection, the light will change. And this time is no different. You see the yellow light and you have the following inner-dialogue:

How much is the fine if I run this light...I can't afford to pay a fine...Maybe its only 20 bucks...Its probably 100 bucks...Either way I can't afford to waste money on something like that...Should I run it....ehhh...Should I stop...I CANT DECIDE!!!!!!!!!

It is a very tough decision and like always you can't make up your mind. It is either going to end with a fine or an accident. You glance in your rear view mirror one last time. Behind you is a bus full of school children. You think about how life as a child was so beautiful. Children are so innocent and truthful. They make you feel good inside. You imagine them laughing and playing and frolicking in the fields.

But then it hits you. The bus is going 50 miles per hour and will not have the same reaction time to stop as you. Because the light is yellow, the driver assumes you will go through it and they will come to an easy stop. But you were considering slamming the breaks.

If you do go through the light, you will be getting a fine. You will not be able to defend yourself in court as the camera has you caught in the act. You can't explain how there was a bus full of school children bearing down on the back of your car like a runaway train, and that if you stopped there would be a terrible accident.

SCRREEEEEEETCHHHH

You've decided that it will be too stressful and too annoying and too unfair to deal with a fine. You slammed on your brakes and skidded to a stop, narrowly avoiding the photo from hell. But something happens next.

BAMMMMMMMMMMM

You feel a sudden pain in your back and hear a loud bang. The lights go out. When you come to, you notice that you are on the ground outside your car. All around you is flaming wreckage. You hear screaming and crying. You glance over and see what used to be a school bus is now a fiery ball of bodies and metal. One small child is running. Look at him run. He is so graceful. But wait. What is that orange glow he has about him? Oh, he is on fire. You watch as he takes the last step he will ever take.

As you sit in a puddle of your own blood, you realize that the fine wouldn't have been that bad. You cry. And cry. And cry.

Thanks red light cameras...