Buttigieg To Usher In Speed Camera Nightmare Across US

The U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s plan to roll out a sprawling network of speed and surveillance cameras across America’s highways raises troubling questions of mass surveillance, according to DailyMail.

Buttigieg’s 42-page plan to improve highway safety will receive a whopping $17 billion from President Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, which would be used to install speed and surveillance cameras on highways. The plan says the use of automated speed cameras is a more “equitable” way to patrol highways than the police.

Last Thursday, Buttigieg told the Associated Press that an alarming amount of highways deaths began after 2020, reversing a three-decade downtrend.

“It doesn’t look good, and I continue to be extremely concerned about the trend,” he said in an interview.

“Somehow it has become over the years and decades as normal, sort of the cost of doing business,” Buttigieg continued. “Even though a pandemic that led to considerably less driving, we continue to see more danger on our roads.”

Speed cameras have drawn immense criticism from progressive lawmakers, who are furious that speeding fines will help fund police departments. On the other side of the political aisle, conservatives are troubled by mass surveillance.

At the moment, eight states have prohibited speed cameras. But 18 states plus D.C. operate speed cameras, with other states having no laws authorizing their use.

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