Red Light Cameras coming to an Intersection Near You

[Adam W]

I dont think cameras like these should be allowed. It's simple a revenue generation method for the city. It has been proven that these do nothing to reduce the amount of accidents or speeders. Get rid of these police state type cameras!

That's not necessarily true. People can cherry-pick data to support the conclusion they want. For example, I have posted links below that claim to show that red light cameras actually increase safety (one is a news story quoting IIHS data and the other is a link to IIHS info).

I don't think there is a clear consensus of whether or not traffic light cameras increase or decrease safety. I also think that while it's fair to say some cities may use them as a revenue-generation scheme, not all do or should and that the motivation for the installation of these cameras is not solely the generation of revenue (at least not in all cases).

As far as reducing speeders is concerned, those are normally not tackled by red light cameras, but rather by another type of camera (colloquially known as a Gatso). As with red light cameras, you could Google their efficacy and get all sorts of conflicting reports!

Reading through this thread, it would seem people have pretty strong personal opinions about this stuff, which is cool with me. I just take claims that red light cameras do or don't increase safety with a massive grain of salt - clearly the experts can't seem to agree.

http://miami.cbslocal.com/2012/01/03/hated-red-light-cameras-reduce-accidents/

http://www.iihs.org/research/qanda/rlr.aspx

[diverdan363]

 The company’s traffic monitoring system is based on both fixed and mobile cameras that record videos of traffic violations. These videos are then cross-referenced with license plate records. After a violation is filmed, traffic citations are sent to the person that is registered license plate. so anyone can drive your car and the ticket sent to you according Redflex who operates the system out of state


http://www.serviceguidance.com/www-photonotice-com-Red-Light-Violation-Video-Online-Viewing/

In our estimation, these were the ten biggest stories related to photo radar and red light cameras from around the U.S. in 2011

We hope you enjoy this look back at activism and politicians meeting head-to-head throughout the past year.

#10 - Texas legislature eliminates penalties for driving without a license plate

#9 â€"  Michael “Big Brother” Bloomberg calls for a “camera on every street corner

#8 - Mayor, Police Chief Take Down Colorado Springs Red Light Cameras

#7 - Redflex’s Gamble Backfires, Sale to Macquarie/Carlyle Canceled, Stock Plunges

#6 - Peoria Red Light Cams Finally Come Down After 3 Yrs of Increased Accidents

#5 - Redflex Kicked Out of Tempe Arizona Over Cash Grab Lawsuit

#4 - 15 Simultaneous Red Light Camera Protests in Florida

#3 - Voters Kick Red Light Cameras Out of 7 Cities in 3 States on Election Day

#2 - Houston City Council Votes 11-1 to Ban Red Light Cameras

#1 - Activists Convice LAPD Comission and LA City Council to Take Cameras Down

see http://camerafraud.wordpress.com/

[diverdan363]

They are calling them “safety zones,” but they’ll cover near 70% of the city of Chicago according to a report by The Chicago Sun Times below.



This map outlines the consequences of a bill that just passed through both houses of Illinois legislature. If Governor Quinn signs off on this monster, the bulk of the city of Chicago will become eligible for surveillance by a profit driven, corrupt foreign corporation, Redflex Traffic Systems. This is clearly not about safety.

[READ MORE]

[diverdan363]

Even more "genius" is how the camera operators and cities increase fines by shortening the yellow light time:
http://blog.motorists.org/6-cities-that-were-caught-shortening-yellow-light-times-for-profit/

by law in Florida, all lights must provide at least 3 seconds of yellow time

The Fact: Longer Yellow Reduces Red Entry
Mesa, Arizona
When yellow times are lengthened at intersections, red light entries plunge.  Mesa,
Arizona found a 73 percent drop in citations after the yellow light was extended.
Mesa increased the left-turn yellow arrow duration to four seconds, from three
seconds, on Nov. 14, after complaints from drivers who felt the time was too short
to safely complete their turns. The change was made at 30 intersections with dual
left-turn lanes and left-turn arrows.  In November, the city issued 1,639 left-turn
arrow citations at the six intersections patrolled by cameras. In December, the
month after the change, the number fell to 716. In October, the month prior to the
change, Mesa issued 2,645 citations. (Arizona Republic, February 6, 2001.)
To most, this decrease in red-light running violations would be most welcome news.  But
it was not welcome news to the city of Mesa.  That’s because once yellow signal timing changes
were made, the camera went from a money-maker to a $10,000 money-loser.  The response of
the local bureaucracy was typical:
Meanwhile, the department will propose eliminating the three-tenths of a second
grace period that [the camera] allows from the time a  light turns red to the time
the camera flashes.  ‘We want to establish a zero tolerance policy for red light
running in Mesa,’” [Mesa police Commander Richard] Clore said.  (Arizona
Republic, February 6, 2001.)
Some of Mesa’s red-light cameras are working  so well that police are talking
about disconnecting them… In some cases, it’s only catching one person a day. 
[Mesa police Commander Richard] Clore said that may be because the city
recently lengthened its yellow lights by a second. (Arizona Republic,  May 22,
2001.)

[Ralph W]

It's amazing that high-tech traffic enforcement can be thwarted by such a simple idea as lengthening the term of the warning yellow signal. It's also amazing that this idea was not first on the list of methods to curtail the incidences of red light running, since traffic studies have long proven the case works. One can find these studies, using half a brain, published on the internet - no need to search out the information the hard way through dusty printed archives.

One interesting timing study brought about what is termed the decision distance, where, based on the speed of a vehicle and the length of the warning signal, there is a minimum and maximum distance from the light where 90% of drivers will almost always decide to either come to a stop or blast on through. Those closest to the signal will always benefit when the yellow is of longer duration and everyone benefits when both sides of the signal remain red for an additional length of time. Those who intend not to stop for whatever reason or those not paying attention to their driving are the ones that skew the study results and drive the push for cameras and other means of enforcing the rules.