One city that will never get rid of the speed camera’s and red light camera’s is Washington DC.
They make too much money off them. It is their form of a commuter tax.
It’s only a money making scheme to begin with—Free money.
I don’t go into Washington unless I absolutely have to thanks to these camera’s. I avoid it any way I can.
in Rochester NY it was found that after installation the city shortened the yellow duration from 4 seconds (the state min) to 3 seconds - many tickets thrown out
Funny - I have actually wished FOR red light cameras here in North Little Rock. I have absolutely NEVER seen the absolute disregard for public safety in my life - in any city or town I have ever visited.
I have made it a personal game when approaching a red light to see not IF someone will run the light after mine turns greed, but HOW MANY will run the light. I do not “jump on the gas” when my light turns green, either. Indeed, it is not particularly uncommon that one has to sit through an entire green light and not get to go at all because of the red light runners.
I have actually considered taking one of my days off and sitting in my truck in a parking lot by a nearby traffic light and filming the intersection.
What is the answer? If officers spent all their time trying to enforce the traffic lights - then everyone would bemoan there are better things to do with their time (and I would agree).
I personally do not understand the cry against these cameras - if there were regulations regarding their use for tickets to be valid (a reasonable minimum yellow light length being one obvious). Is the objection that the registered owner receives the ticket, not necessarily the driver? Is it corruption because the cameras can be rigged with WAY too short yellows?
I’m not a fan of “big brother”, but I’m even less a fan of blatant disregard for the law - especially that which endangers my health, wellbeing, and family. At what cost, freedom? You tell me.
Red light camera’s are simply about revenue. Rear end accidents go up in red light intersections because as another post mentioned, decision points change drastically with these things. I know I have slammed on the brakes when approaching a red light intersections. Not going to take the risk of them shortening the yellow on me.
If there was a huge problem with this (like N. Little Rock), just have a few weeks of “enhanced enforcement” at the biggest intersections and you would see a drastic reduction in red light running. I posit that if the local police force hired just one officer that only did red light enforcement, they would pay for the position many times over by the tickets they wrote. And guess what, the locality gets to keep ALL of the monies paid instead of sending half of it to the privately owned red light camera company!
FYI to my Washington State friends, I believe the law still reads that the red light camera must be at the intersection of two arterials. I believe it is the whole State, not just my locality. In my town, there are two of these that are at the intersection of a city designated arterial and a city designated “side street” which makes any ticket issued from these cameras as invalid. They count on people just paying the ticket without knowing the law. Also in Washington State, you can send in an affidavit that you were not driving the car at the time and the ticket will be dismissed. I have done this three times (I really wasn’t the driver). I just make sure all our cars except one are in my name and the one that isn’t in my name is the car I drive the most. Instant deniability.
Last but not least, statistically, close to 80% of the tickets issued are for safely executed right turn on red. The safety of this maneuver is outweighs the problem with the increase of rear-end collisions.
Bottom line, it is all about the revenue.
It’s all about the revenue, baby.