Letters

Putting a stop to red-light runners

Regarding: "As stoplight cameras spread, drivers see red" (March 19): Hurray for a device that exposes traffic violators and clearly lowers the number of red-light-running violations where these cameras are being used. It's time we stopped giving more weight to perceived rights of privacy and movement than to my right to drive in as safe an environment as possible. When a driver runs a red light, that person endangers someone's life including his or her own.

I see these violators frequently, and thus far my defensive driving techniques have helped me avoid accidents. With more cameras, I will have another way to be protected from the crass drivers who value their freedom to drive more than my safety.
James B. Hathaway
Seattle

You don't have to drive far to find drivers running red lights when there are no cameras or police present. Why do you think most drivers pause for a few seconds before moving into the intersection on a green light? This is a good indication of how rampant and blatant red-light running has become. When are people going to start accepting responsibility for their actions? Running red lights is extremely dangerous. The fine should be in the thousands of dollars in addition to losing your drivers license for at least a year.
Bob Bellfy
San Marcos, Calif.

A simple solution to the dangers of red- light running would be to have all four traffic lights show red at the same time for 5 seconds or longer. It would allow red light runners time to clear the intersection and eliminate accidents. If safety and not "revenue generation" really is the motive for the red-light cameras, the four-way pause would solve the problem and cost the municipality nothing to implement.
Tim Jones
Allen, Texas

Regarding "Women make the team, but less often coach it" (March 12, Learning): On the very day you published a story lamenting the loss of women coaches in college sports, Margie Wright, coach of the California State University-Fresno women's softball team, became the first 1,000-game softball winner in NCAA history when the 10th-ranked Bulldogs bested Tennessee Tech 4 to 0 and 2 to 1. Ms. Wright's 17-year tenure at Fresno State is full of well-earned accomplishments having won an NCAA championship and having coached Olympians, and All-Americans.

Perhaps the key to more women coaches, of both women's and men's teams, is higher recognition of, and support for, the abilities and accomplishments of coaches like Margie Wright.
Anidelle Flint
Fresno, Calif.

Regarding "For Dominican hopefuls, baseball is a game of ages" (March 8): While it is good we are finally going to know the actual ages of Dominican players, we will be doing more harm than good to the game. Dominican players have to be primed to play baseball between the ages of 16 and 18. If they are not fully developed or for some reason things have not clicked for them athletically during that period they have no chance of making it to the majors. As some are late bloomers, the only way to compensate for this has been to lie about their age.

In the US we have college baseball so players as old as 21 and 22 can still dream of playing major league baseball. This gives them three to four years to develop that a Dominican player does not have. While finding out the ages of the Dominican players is good, we need to remember to look at some of the players who might be late developers, and who might have future potential.
David Sprout Plymouth, Minn.

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