LETTERS: ‘Badge on Board’ has room to improve
To the editor:
I found the article regarding the “Badge on Board” program to be particularly interesting (“Highway Patrol mounts big rigs to enforce laws,” Feb. 27 Review-Journal). In the program, Nevada Highway Patrol troopers do ride-alongs with drivers of semi-trucks in an effort to target dangerous drivers.
Don’t get me wrong, I am all for this or any other program that will curb the stupid problems caused by individuals not focused on their driving. The article stated that NHP officers found their biggest problem on the road to be the use of cellphones by drivers.
As a resident of Nevada, I know that this is illegal, but as a driver, I know that Nevada lawmakers have never bothered to understand the fact that if the Legislature is going to make laws, it should also inflict consequences for breaking those laws — consequences that will have an impact on the lives of those individuals. Might I suggest, as the law has a maximum $600 fine (considerably more expensive than a Bluetooth device), why not allow police officers to record video of drivers using their cellphones?
Then, officers could ticket drivers while allowing them to either agree that they were in the wrong, or deny their guilt and send them to court, along with the video. That would keep officers out of court, allowing them to continue their duties in the field. The judge should be able to determine innocence or guilt from the video.
The resulting fines should be divided into three equal categories: the first going to the city in which the ticket was issued; the second to fund the police department that wrote the citation; and the third to the Nevada educational system, in the hope that someday we might produce an adult resident who understands that driving and talking on the phone is not a good idea.
FREDRICK WILKENING
LAS VEGAS
