It was so gratifying to read Ms. Caldwell’s letter in the May 3 Kirkland Reporter. I’ve been wondering for the past year if I am the only victim of the ticket trap over by Evergreen Hospital who minds being ambushed, robbed and slandered by the city of Kirkland and the Kirkland police.

Do other citizens really think that it is OK for the city to set out a couple of cleverly and, according to the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, illegally placed No Right Turn On Red signs so that unsuspecting drivers will be enticed into “breaking the law” so that the police can then hand out huge fines to people who have done virtually nothing wrong?

The answer to her query “where are Kirkland’s police cruisers now?” is that even though they backed off considerably after one ticket victim protested loudly and persistently to both the city and the police, they are back writing tickets on that infamous corner.

I have been doing some research during the past year and have discovered that in the four years since the almost unused bus station went in there have been exactly zero accidents caused by anyone turning right on the red light at that intersection. There have been only about a dozen accidents – all rear end collisions or cars turning left except for one bicycle accident. Yet there have been scores of right turn on red tickets, maybe even hundreds, written for “safety” reasons. So I was told by the officer who assaulted and robbed me.

Ms. Caldwell has judged correctly that the issue is revenue rather than safety.

I actually do sympathize with the police when they have to deal with gray areas in law enforcement. But that corner by the hospital is not a gray area. It is so black and white. If the city and the police are really all that concerned about safety the solution is so simple and so obvious. Move the signs to their proper and legal positions where drivers have a fair chance of seeing them. Until those signs are moved I do not see how any reasonable, fair minded person could see this situation as anything other than an absolute scam in which the city is trying to balance its budget on the backs of innocent drivers. And the police are not doing themselves any favors by participating in this shameful and disgraceful government rip-off.

They are only alienating good people who would otherwise have been their friends and supporters. Respect is a two-way street. If the police want citizens to respect them then they must treat citizens with respect.

Jane Peterson, Kirkland