Initiative 985 would take revenue that cities get from red-light cameras and put it into a state congestion reduction account.

That’s robbing city money for the new state account.

Cities would be able to keep revenue from red light violators caught by officers but would lose revenue that they get from red-light cameras.

That would discourage cities from using red-light cameras, meaning that patrol officers would spend more time stopping red-light violators and less time patrolling the streets.

Without the certainty that the cameras would catch red-light violators, we would see more violations and more accidents.

What’s next? Taking money from speeders caught by radar but leaving fine money caught by patrol officers?

I-985: Keep HOV lanes for buses

I-985 would also open high-occupancy-vehicle lanes to all traffic during off-peak hours.

That means that buses, which depend on having those lanes open during all hours, would be slowed by the heavy traffic that we have during those off-peak hours.

I-985: Wrong approach to tolls

I-985, aimed at congestion relief, would force the state to spend any income from tolls that it collects on a state highway on that highway alone.

That could actually make traffic congestion worse.

How? By moving drivers from toll roads onto non-toll roads.

For example, a high toll on a new Evergreen Point Floating Bridge across Lake Washington on state Highway 520 might make many drivers either go south to use Interstate 90, crossing Lake Washington on the Mercer Island floating bridge or go north to drive around the north shore of the lake.

Imagine the congestion on the alternate routes if tolls start on Highway 520.

I-985: Follow auditor’s other recommendations

I-985 sponsor Tim Eyman claims that the initiative is a way to implement the recommendations of a 2007 performance audit of the state Department of Transportation.

Yet the initiative ignores some important recommendations from the audit, including forming a single agency to oversee all transportation in the state, adding tolls, encouraging telecommuting and more vanpools.

A change for state auditor

Democratic state auditor Brian Sonntag has been a trusted state official for 14 years. I voted for him in 1996, 2000 and 2004, and in the August primary, but this fall I’ll vote for Republican Dick McEntee.

I can no longer support Sonntag because he has misused the power we gave him to conduct performance audits.

A performance audit is supposed to tell us whether an agency of state or local government is doing its job efficiently, but Sonntag has used that power to promote his own agenda.

He used the audit of the Department of Transportation not just to suggest efficiencies but also to suggest changes in policies.

Now, he is failing to speak out against a citizen initiative that claims to be based on his audit but really distorts it.

Evan Smith is the Enterprise Forum editor. Send comments to entopinion@heraldnet.com.