Motorists speed by Tim Eyman's Initiative 985

BALLOTS are still being counted — that almost goes without saying — but the so-called Reduce Traffic Congestion Initiative is going down 2-to-1.

Initiative peddler Tim Eyman's latest concoction, I-985, is being passed by like a scary hitchhiker on a dark highway. Motor voters sped up with good reason.

This is a classic candy-coated treat designed to inspire a lip-smacking paragraph for signature gatherers to share with shoppers in a hurry in front of the grocery store. Hey, man, ticked off about all those empty freeway lanes? Sign here.

Behind the glib patter were 12-pages of fine print of who-knows-what. A jumble of verbiage about underused HOV lanes, unsynchronized traffic lights and red-light cameras. Imagine the nerve: taking pictures of scofflaws who ignore stop signals and blaze through pedestrian crosswalks.

Copies of this initiative ought to be collected and ground up to help the flowers grow. The most transparent contrivance in the initiative was the proposal to open up HOV lanes during nonpeak hours. Sure, fill up those open lanes and make them wholly less attractive to car-pool users and bus riders.

The hideous effect of I-985 on Highway 520 across Lake Washington was obvious to all but those who sat around the kitchen table drafting the initiative, playing traffic engineer.

The initiative also toyed with public finance and tolling, an emotionally potent topic that the clumsy I-985 could not exploit.

Perhaps the cheesiest element of the arguments from the proponents was the claim that red-light cameras were no more than a fundraising device installed by avaricious city halls. If that is the nefarious plot, here is an insidious way to strike back: Slow down, and do not run red lights. Deny them the money!

Voters recognized I-985 was more about hokum than highways. Eyman will be back; it is his lucrative craft. The mind boggles at the creative turns the electorate can next expect.