SF Bus Blockers Beware!
If you live in San Francisco and routinely end up in the bus lane, be aware that a new law might foil your time-saving plans:
“Not long after hearing about England's newfangled auto-ticketing system comes word that San Franciscans could soon be facing something similar. If signed into law by Governor Schwarzenegger, "forward-facing digital video cameras would be installed on city buses," which would then be used to automatically ticket the owners of vehicles that are caught "blocking buses." The cameras would presumably be used to photograph vehicles that are in bus-only lanes, and interestingly enough, the proposed law also authorizes Municipal Transportation Agency "employees to access sensitive personal data" from the DMV for ticketing purposes.”
What kind of 'sensitive personal data' might the MTA be after? Seems like they ought to pass the license plate info on to the local police and let them take care of it instead of giving a whole slew of people access to data that could lead to some form of abuse.
Too bad EarthLink pulled the plug on city-wide WiFi project for San Francisco. If it was still live, this could have ended up with timely events such as the police waiting for bus blockers at the end of their wild ride. If they want this bill to pass, perhaps the law makers pushing it could make a commercial like this:
Cut in front of a taxi to catch a yellow light: save ~2 minutes.
Get around an accident by using the bus lane: save ~6 minutes.
Get ticketed by the police at my place of work because the bus was equipped with a camera: Priceless.
“Not long after hearing about England's newfangled auto-ticketing system comes word that San Franciscans could soon be facing something similar. If signed into law by Governor Schwarzenegger, "forward-facing digital video cameras would be installed on city buses," which would then be used to automatically ticket the owners of vehicles that are caught "blocking buses." The cameras would presumably be used to photograph vehicles that are in bus-only lanes, and interestingly enough, the proposed law also authorizes Municipal Transportation Agency "employees to access sensitive personal data" from the DMV for ticketing purposes.”
What kind of 'sensitive personal data' might the MTA be after? Seems like they ought to pass the license plate info on to the local police and let them take care of it instead of giving a whole slew of people access to data that could lead to some form of abuse.
Too bad EarthLink pulled the plug on city-wide WiFi project for San Francisco. If it was still live, this could have ended up with timely events such as the police waiting for bus blockers at the end of their wild ride. If they want this bill to pass, perhaps the law makers pushing it could make a commercial like this:
Cut in front of a taxi to catch a yellow light: save ~2 minutes.
Get around an accident by using the bus lane: save ~6 minutes.
Get ticketed by the police at my place of work because the bus was equipped with a camera: Priceless.
