Red light cameras may get shut off [company that runs them in debt]

KABC ^ | 7-24-2009 | Carlos Granda

[lainie]

NORTH HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (KABC) -- Most public officials like red light cameras, but many motorists do not. The city of Los Angeles is concerned it could lose these high-tech "speed catchers" because of one company's financial woes.

The red light cameras are scattered at intersections all over Southern California, but the company that runs them is also in the red.

"For this particular company, our information is they're $33 million in debt. That's a major problem," said L.A. Councilman Dennis Zine.

The company, Nestor Traffic Systems out of Rhode Island, filed for receivership in June.

[lainie]

LAT reports: 80% of Red Light Tickets for Right-Turn Violations

[conservative cat]

So sad.

[2harddrive]

As soon as they go under, all tickets not yet handled will be DROPPED!

[LiberConservative]

Bwa ha ha.

[bareford101]

I really doubt that this has ever been cost effective... good riddance.... “neat little thingy”

[TWohlford]

DC makes Bazillions off of these things. So does the UK.

In neither case have the safety numbers been improved.

[rvoitier]

Maybe the dems can send the convicts they’re soon to release out to gather them up. :)

[wendy1946]

At least in the King James version, there’s not a single thing in either testament of the Bible about anybody going to hell for shooting an electronic device...

[justlurking]

I don't have a problem with these cameras at "problem" intersections: that's how they have been used in my city. I nearly got T-boned at one of those intersections by someone running a red-light before the camera was installed.

I do have a problem with using them for revenue generation -- especially when the city gets caught lowering the yellow-light time to catch more violators. It's happened.

Overall, the camera's role in safety is mixed. It appears to reduce "perpendicular" collisions (i.e. the T-bone), but increases rear-end collisions due to people stopping unexpectedly for a yellow-light.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

These cameras just create resentment and even more disrespect for authority.

[guitarplayer1953]

Not to change the subject but where I live I have been hearing radio spots asking for people to have small computers put in their cars for monitoring their driving and they are going to pay them over 800 buck for ten months of data collection. It's being done a university so they say for determine in a more fair way of getting revenue for roads. Has anyone else been hearing the radio spots? I live in Kansas.

[Lurker]

They’re playing in the Chicago metro area.

[guitarplayer1953]

What's your state tax on gas? I'm wondering if they will do away with the gas tax or just add this user tax on top of it? Probably the latter

[Lurker]

Illinois has one of the highest gas taxes in the nation. Do away with the gas tax? That’ll never happen.

[guitarplayer1953]

Here in Kansas they raised the gas tax for road work by our Repubic senators in the state and then Governor Katleen Sibelius borrowed or should I say took money for her social programs. If I ran a business the way they tax and spend I’d be brought up on embezzlement charges.

[org.whodat]

So sad.

Any bet on what the CEO pays himself a year.

[org.whodat]

SCAM

[Boiler Plate]

We have mobile speed cameras here and they occasionally show up hoping to catch HS kids leaving school. The camera is in a big minivan which gets parked in a spot where no one else ever pars and to make sure they are well visible they put out safety cones. You can literally see them 200 yrds away.

Anyway some of the HS kids decided to turn the tables and wrote down the tag number of the “SafeSpeed” van and then made fake tags with then van number. They then went zooming past it all day and then changed the tags back. One of the local cops who lives in the neighborhood told me about this and said the “SafeSpeed” folks thought they were having a banner day only to find their own mailbox jammed with tickets 2 weeks later.

[theymakemesick]

Re: your post 18, best laugh I had all day!

[TChad]

The Washington Times has run a couple of good pieces on red light cameras. One interesting statistic was that each additional second of yellow light reduced the number of tickets by about 80%. Yet municipalities reduce the length of the yellow light to increase revenue.