In a desperate move to raise even more revenue, many cities and towns in our state are targeting traffic violators. The idea was spawned by the release of the national study of driving habits, which is conducted annually. It revealed that Rhode Islanders have the worst driving records in the country. We again came in dead last. No pun intended. But a more important statistic in a local study on traffic violations has caught the attention of budget directors everywhere. The report from that study revealed that video cameras placed in random locations for a total of about 8,600 hours, equivalent to one year’s time, recorded nearly 1,400 drivers who ran red lights. For each traffic light, that amounts to about six and a half violations an hour. (Is half a violation when someone drives into the intersection and then backs up?)

Next consider that Rhode Island has more traffic lights per square mile than other state. Multiply every traffic light by 1,400 and then by $100 for each fine, plus court costs. We now have the ingredients for the perfect storm for traffic fine collection. If there was a way to ticket all these offenders, the state could probably do away with property taxes entirely and concentrate on red light runners. This potential has budget managers throughout the state salivating on their spreadsheets.

The problem that emerges is how do you catch these offenders? We can’t put a police officer on every corner. Installing video cameras is a solution, but there’s a catch there - the cost. These cameras with electronic sensors run $30,000 to $70,000 each, plus the expense of the union electricians installing them all over the state. It would take years to recoup that kind of investment, and by then there would be other budget shortfalls to fund. The cities, towns and municipalities need money now.

Well one enterprising city manager came up with a creative solution. In fact, he got the idea from my recent column on text messaging. He began hiring teenagers to stand on every street corner and take pictures of violators with their camera phones. They would then key in the license number of the vehicle, the time, date and location, plus a description of the driver and car. Because of their special skills, this can be done in a matter of seconds. Instead of paying these kids, they would be rewarded with I-Pods and steady supplies of I-Tunes. The ancillary benefit of using teenagers for this solution is that the ACLU and other extreme left-wing fringe groups cannot label this a "Big Brother" activity. Some people however, might argue that the local governments are exploiting child labor. And of course, the unions will want to organize them.

But the story doesn¹t end there, as it looks like Yankee ingenuity just may prevail. ReallyScaryMasks.com has come up with a way to help the traffic violators, and extend their business from seasonal to year round. They have created masks of all the local politicians for the offending drivers to wear, because everyone knows the pols have diplomatic immunity.