To the editor:

Alexandria Times Publisher Denise Dunbar claims — in the Quick Takes column March 21 — that red-light cameras employed by the city are “an invasion of privacy and an affront.”

It seems to me that a state-licensed driver operating a state-registered and -inspected vehicle on a publicly-paid-for thoroughfare with carefully delineated rules of operation enforceable by civil and criminal penalties has agreed in advance to sacrifice certain rights of privacy.

The purpose of red-light cameras is to reduce dangerous lawbreaking with a minimum of public cost. How is this an “affront”?

If anything, the city should be encouraged to increase its use of red-light cameras to stop as many lawbreakers as possible and make the local streets safer.
– John Koch
Alexandria