Dear Editor:

I’m writing in response to the Sept. 24 article about the laser detection system for the railroad overpass on West Central Avenue. Based on 30 accidents in 6 years with a total expense of $15,000, that works out to be $250 per accident with 5 accidents per year.

ODOT says that the laser detection system could, not would, reduce the number of accidents by 65 to 70 percent.

If we use the lower rate of a 65 percent reduction, that means that there could potentially be only 10 accidents over the 6 years after the detection system is in operation. If we take the expense of 20 accidents prevented over 6 years at $250 the savings is $5,000.

If we now take the $315,000 that ODOT and MORPC are going to spend on this detection system and divide it by the $5,000 saved every 6 years, it will take approximately 378 years to recoup the ROI for this project. The city of Delaware may not be funding any of this project, but they certainly are a participant in an obviously gross waste of taxpayer dollars.

All things considered, dealing with such a small number of accidents at such a small expense for each one, in my opinion, is certainly a more responsible solution to the problem.

—Paul Hansberry

Delaware