Houston Red Light Camera Report Undermines TxDOT Camera Study

theNewspaper.com ^ | 12/31/2008 | n/a

[rednesss]

There are lies, damn lies, and statistics.

[pnh102]

Until people stop tailgating, this will continue. After a while the smart ones will be PREPARED TO STOP!

That's something I never understood. The traffic light cameras themselves do not cause the accidents, it is the idiots who ride up to your bumper as you stop for a red or yellow light that do.

I personally don't have a problem with red light cameras with reasonable oversight because there are dangerous intersections where it is critical that traffic laws be enforced and there aren't enough cops to go around to enforce the law at every intersection. Of course, I don't find myself running red lights on purpose either.

[Sally'sConcerns]

ping

I hadn’t seen a red light camera intersection until I came to Houston over Christmas. We were never ticketed but it seemed as if every intersection we crossed which had a camera flashed and took a picture because someone was going through the light.(At least that’s what the camera thought.)

[oh8eleven]

Houston Mayor Bill White was furious when he saw the report's draft text in August. He banned the document from publication...
There are plenty of other studies all in agreement ...

• "Comprehensive studies conclude cameras actually increase crashes and injuries..."
• "The cameras were associated with an increase in total crashes..."
• "The analysis shows that the number of crashes at locations with cameras more than doubled, from 365 collisions in 1998 to 755 last year."

But when it comes to gov't and greed, facts be damned.

[Mr. K]

what to do...

more tax money? more deaths?

I am betting they figure out a ‘solution’ that keeps the tax money, and fails to address the deaths... THAT’s how the govt works!

[j-damn]

*It’s enough to distract everyone traveling through the intersection, not just the subject being photographed. Imagine yourself driving along minding your own business when suddenly a strobe goes off in your eyes.*

The only person driving through an intersection when a camera goes off is either running the red light her/himself or about to be t-boned by the person running the red light.

Why can’t people just learn to stop when a yellow light is stale or to stop blazing through city streets too fast to stop at yellow lights at all? How hard is that to figure out?

[weegee]

What do you expect, Texas next US senator told us the critics just need to shut up. Like he did about so much else under his reign.

[weegee]

Houston Revenue scheme PING

[weegee]

I want to know how many cops and bus drivers (metro and school) have been caught on these. Since it is a private company that collects the money, at least at one point they did NOT want to waive the fees for non-emergencies and the city tried to make the violators pony up the cash.

The city is in a tizzy right now about what to do over suspected assault by police officers. Put a video camera in the downtown holding cell (before booking) and you’ll catch cops in the act of assault and the damn well knows it. It is a potential multimillion dollar lawsuit that could hit our city.

[weegee]

Prior to Ike, there were reports out of Dallas that they were turning off some of the cameras because they weren’t making the city money anymore (violators had decreased at those intersections).

[LostInBayport]

Houston Mayor Bill White was furious when he saw the report's draft text in August. He banned the document from publication and ordered a re-writing of the text that would reflect a more positive result.

Wow, I thought we had a lock on reptilian politicians here in Taxachusetts. This Mayor White is a Class-A Dirtbag.

And it goes to show that politicians see taxpayers solely as sources of revenue. Their health, safety and suffering are not a consideration if there is tax revenue to be had. Is there a school politicians must attend that teaches them how to lose their humanity?

[Real Cynic No More]

... it seemed as if every intersection we crossed which had a camera flashed and took a picture because someone was going through the light....

Actually, there is sometimes a strobe light that is unrelated to the camera that takes a picture. Its purpose is to allow a police officer to determine when a light (that he cannot see from where he may be sitting) turns red. And it flashes whether there's a police officer there or not. This provides him with the ability to stop and ticket a driver from a different direction.

[Publius6961]

Until people stop tailgating, this will continue. After a while the smart ones will be PREPARED TO STOP!

Not that simple.
Slowing down on the green because a 2-second yellow might come at any time is the cause of slamming on the brakes at the last minute.

A citation or being rear-ended is an unnecessary burden to have to choose between.

Praying others won't tailgate is a fool's solution (or a grossly self-centered immature twit's).

[TribalPrincess2U]

Who you calling a twit?

[gitmo]

Here in Charlotte, the yellow lights became a flash that was barely discernible. But eventually someone made them stop using the fool cameras.

[freekitty]

Nobody in government can think before or after they do anything.

[stevie_d_64]

Houston Mayor Bill White was furious when he saw the report’s draft text in August. He banned the document from publication and ordered a re-writing of the text that would reflect a more positive result. To accomplish this task, White was able to turn to the study’s primary author, Rice University Urban Politics Professor Robert Stein. Stein’s wife, Marty, is employed by the city of Houston as a top aide to the mayor. Stein’s newly revised report now concludes that “red light cameras are mitigating a general, more severe increase in collisions.”

---

So in other words Bill, you are a lying sack of...

And you want to make a go at the senate seat that may be vacated by Kay Baily Hutchison???

I just don’t think we can trust you there buckwheat...

[Ron H.]

Wow let's see now. DemocRAT Mayor Billy White blatantly and arrorgantly lies about an important matter that can cause lives to be lost while he is in control. It makes me pause and wonder just what else he would lie about if he were to become the next Jr. U.S. Senator from Texas where he will have a greater incentive to mislead lie to the citizens.?!

[weegee]

Mayor White (the white guy Democrat) is a former Clinton administration figure as was Houston’s Mayor Brown (the brown Democrat). They are carpetbaggers who don’t give a crap about this city, they are political animals. Like Chris Bell, 4 time loser (and Democrat).

[justlurking]

To achieve the appearance of success, the study divided red light camera intersections into "non-monitored" approaches -- the directions of travel at the intersection where the red light camera is not looking -- and the "monitored" approaches where ticketing took place. There was a 132 percent increase in collisions at the non-monitored approaches of the intersection where red light cameras were installed and a non-significant 9 percent increase at the monitored approaches. The study treated these increases in both rear end and T-bone collisions as unrelated to the red light camera as long as the accident happened outside of the camera's view.

This was a stupid assumption, especially if the intersections are posted the same as in the Dallas area (or at least the Dallas suburbs).

Here, a sign warns that red-light cameras are in use at all approaches to an intersection. So, even if only one approach actually has the camera in position to record red-light runners, the typical driver doesn't know which one unless they are familiar with the intersection and know what to look for.

If the intersections in Houston are posted on all approaches, it's going to modify the behavior of drivers: they'll stop more often on yellow lights. An increased number of rear-end collisions is the most likely outcome.