Big Brother Wants to Watch You on Your Daily Commute

Don’t you wish there were cameras set up on Maine highways to catch you speeding, so you can get tickets sent to you in the mail? Sounds fun, exciting and fair, right?

If LD 1457 becomes law this session, you just might get your wish. The bill—Maine’s latest Big Brother attempt to surveil you—is sponsored by Sen. Brad Farrin (R-Somerset) and co-sponsored by lawmakers from both parties, many of whom serve on the state’s Transportation Committee, where the bill is being considered.

The measure would allow the Maine Turnpike Authority, along with the Department of Transportation and Department of Public Safety, to establish a “pilot program” to operate three work zone surveillance systems on Maine highways.  

The surveillance systems would be used to record images of license plates on motor vehicles traveling through the work zone at a rate of speed more than 11 miles per hour above the posted work zone speed limit.

If you get caught speeding in the work zone, your first violation would result in a written warning. Upon second and subsequent violations, you’ll get a fine sent to you in the mail.

Amusingly, under the bill, it doesn’t matter who’s actually driving the vehicle that gets caught speeding–all that matters is who owns the vehicle. So, if you lend your car to a friend or family member, or maybe your teenager takes it for a spin, you could get fined even if you weren’t the one speeding. Isn’t that nice?

Proponents say the pilot program is necessary because 23 people were killed in Maine work zone crashes in a 12-year period leading up to 2023. Their argument is similar to the “if it saves one life!” line we heard from Gov. Mills and her cronies during the pandemic.

Not to minimize these deaths–because all deaths on our roads are tragic and preventable–but it’s not like Maine is some sort of national outlier in this regard. According to national data, there were 7,891 work zone fatalities nationwide between 2013 and 2022. Maine was responsible for 16 of those deaths. Thus, our state claimed .20% of all work zone deaths nationwide during that 10-year period, yet we account for .41% of the national population.

It’s also worth noting the majority of states already allow for some sort of traffic surveillance systems on their roads or highways. If these surveillance systems save lives, as proponents contend, why do most of these same states have higher incidence of fatalities in work zones than Maine does? These are the kind of questions nobody on the Transportation Committee seems to be asking for some reason.

Banning whipped cream might save one life from diabetes, but most Mainers wouldn’t support such a law. Similarly, I don’t believe the majority of Mainers support being surveilled by the state on their daily commute.

And as anyone who drives on our roads already knows, there’s a lot of “work zones” that aren’t, well, work zones. There might be big orange cones littering both sides of the road and signs all over the place, but nobody is actually working there and in harm’s way. Imagine getting automatically ticketed for going 11 miles per hour above the posted speed limit while traveling through a “work zone” where no workers are present. I drive through at least three of these alleged “work zones” on my regular commute. 

If enacted, there is no world where the Turnpike Authority, Department of Transportation and Department of Public Safety come back to lawmakers after the completion of this “pilot program” and say it was anything other than a screaming success. To be clear, LD 1457 is the camel’s nose under the tent to make traffic surveillance systems “the new normal,” to repeat another horrid phrase we heard during the pandemic. They will become a permanent fixture of Maine highways.

That’s because this program is about generating revenue, not about saving lives. 

In 2009, Maine lawmakers rightly prohibited automatic traffic surveillance systems on our roads. The only exceptions to this law include enforcement against the jerks who don’t stop for school buses, and people who use the E-ZPass lane without having an E-ZPass subscription.

There is no reason to end the prohibition on automatic traffic surveillance systems as it exists today. No Mainer should be fined or otherwise penalized for traffic violations unless a law enforcement officer witnessed them do it.

I thought this principle was common sense. Apparently, this is a hot take in 2025, because the Transportation Committee appears hellbent on creating this new, creepy, and 1984-like surveillance program. 

Disclaimer: The Maine Wire is a project of the Maine Policy Institute