Jul 1, 2014 4 min read

When it comes to catching speeders and keeping our roads safe, local police officers in Pennsylvania are outgunned.

That’s because under state law they aren’t allowed to use radar guns. Instead, they must use other speed enforcement methods that are more expensive, cumbersome to set up, less effective after dark and in inclement weather and more dangerous for police officers.

Pennsylvania is the only state in the continental United States that prohibits local police departments from using radar guns. Pennsylvania State Police can – and do – use radar.

Motorists know that they’re less likely to get caught speeding on Pennsylvania roads policed by local departments and many of them take advantage of that fact, driving well beyond speed limits and endangering the lives of other motorists and pedestrians.

This ban doesn’t make sense. Supporters of lifting it said the reason for the ban was a concern local police officers will use radar guns more for raising revenue than for public safety. If those concerns were valid, abuse of radar guns would be rampant in other states, prompting bans across the country. But that’s not happening.

In addition, speeding tickets aren’t a very effective way to raise revenue. Costs are high, but large portions of the money cover court costs and emergency medical service fees. If municipalities are looking for ways to raise revenue, there are easier and more effective ways to do it than sending police officers on speed enforcement missions.

This ban makes many roads in Pennsylvania less safe and it’s an insult to local police officers who are capable of using radar guns properly and responsibly.

There’s another advantage to expanding radar guns to local police departments. Pulling over speeders could also lead to catching drunken drivers, drug traffickers and users and other law breakers.

At least two bills in the Pennsylvania Legislature – Senate Bill 13040 and House Bill 1272 – would allow local police departments to use radar guns. Several local municipalities, including Wilson Borough, Palmer Township and Whitehall Township, have passed resolutions supporting the measures. Others, including Forks Township, are considering it.

Previous attempts to overturn this ban have failed, but it’s time for lawmakers to give local police departments this important public safety tool.

There’s a simple solution for drivers worried about getting caught by radar-gun happy police departments.

Slow down!

A bump at the pump might be worth more than failing roads. The Highway Trust Fund, which provides most of the funding for federal transportation projects on interstate highways, is expected to run dry this September. Most of the trust fund’s revenues are from the federal gasoline tax, which has diminished substantially in value since its last increase in 1993 as a result of inflation and increasing fuel efficiency.

A bipartisan Senate bill, proposed last week, would restore the fund’s solvency by raising the tax by 12 cents over the next two years and indexing the tax with inflation. Like many good ideas from Congress, its chances of success are slim. The measure, sponsored by Republican Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee and Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, would raise $164 billion for the fund and avoid a nightmarish scenario where existing projects would stop and badly needed new projects be suspended if the trust fund were to run out of money.

To assuage Republican senators who have signed Grover Norquist’s anti-tax pledge, Sens. Corker and Murphy have proposed the extension of tax relief measures that they say will keep the bill revenue-neutral. It’s a concession to how dire things have become in Congress, but one that is better than other proposals to fund the highway system by eliminating Saturday postal service or offering a one-time tax “holiday” on repatriated corporate profits.

The Highway Trust Fund has required infusions of cash from the U.S. Treasury to remain afloat. Instead of stopgap measures and gimmicks, basic infrastructure spending should be covered permanently by a sensible and updated tax code. For the sake of a safe and functional federal highway system, the tax will need to rise.