I'm gone this week - behave yourselves.

I have to go to New Jersey for the rest of the week and help my father move. So I am going to miss this:

Crime Watch and Traffic Camera Enforcement Program

Thursday, January 28, 2010 6:30pm - 8:30pm

Treasure Island Elementary School
7540 East Treasure Drive
North Bay Village, FL

Email Lt. McVay

Now, as regards the cameras, rumor has it that there will be a group of North Bay Islanders complaining that they are being targeted unfairly.

If history predicts the future, it will be rude and bullying. I hope it won't but I'm betting it will.

Listen, people develop bad driving habits and Miami is particularly bad. It's clear that one of the reasons is lack of effective enforcement. As a pedestrian and a bicyclist in North Bay Village, I am constantly on the wrong end of people rolling through red lights to make a right.

Just the other night, crossing the Causeway at Hispañola on foot, where I had the green light and the walk sign, a moron in a Suburban Assault Vehicle rolled right, missed me by a foot and then screamed a common expletive at me. Way to keep it classy, North Bay Village.

This is more than a joke. If we are going to have a vibrant, livable community, traffic has to be controlled. The lights are helping. It would help more if the police started stopping the speeders.

The other thing I wonder about is what is going through the minds of people who got the tickets and think it's unfair.

For a reality based person, if you get a ticket, you log on, you see the video of your car going through the red light, you pay the ticket, try to be more careful and get on with your life.

But for some North Bay Village people, getting a ticket is like a seventh grader in trouble at school. Remember those excuses?

"It wasn't my fault." "The teacher hates me." "Everyone does it. Why me?"

Anything but, "It was my fault. I won't do it again."

What do you suppose these people tell their kids? Never mind. We know their kids.