Red-Light Cameras Producing Profits More Than Protecting Drivers

Megalith

Megalith

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…I am pretty sure that nobody thinks red-light cameras are anything more than a cash grab, so I’ll ask this instead: how many times have you gotten robbed by one?

One proven way to reduce accidents and improve red-light compliance is to actuate the yellow light sooner and leave it on a little longer. Drivers have more time to notice and react to the yellow light, and most will stop for it. This is not news. The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has been recommending this technique for decades. However, if you’re thinking that cities with red-light camera contracts have followed the DOT’s guidelines to reduce accidents and increase compliance, think again.
 
Megalith said:
Drivers have more time to notice and react to the yellow light, and most will stop for it. This is not news.
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o_O Not around here... Yellow around here pretty much means "gun it through the intersection!"
 
They tried this in my county. It ended up being a cash grab and actually cause rear end collisions to go up substantially.

In the end the cameras are tax collectors with public safety a secondary thought.
 
I think yellow lights should be lengthened. On top of that, real cops should be handing out tickets.
 
Yellows should have a standardized interval. We had these in my city until recently. You'd see 10 people waiting for the left green arrow but it was only 5 seconds so 2-3 people would try and sneak through the yellow, the last guy always gets the ticket. One day I thought I could make it, got me for 300$.
 
You want to save lives with red light runners? Ditch the cameras and simply have a longer delay between lights turning red and the perpendicular going green.

But no, that doesn't help fill city coffers, and more to the point, fill the pockets of the private companies who make these deals with cities. Bottom line is you aren't paying for the ticket of running a red light, you're paying the ticket plus an "administrative fee" of the company that leases the equipment to the city. And cities love them, they don't have to pay for equipment, they don't have to pay for maintenance of equipment, all they need is one certified officer to look at the pictures and rubber stamp an OK on all of them.
 
Full on cash grab , but no ,I've never gotten stung...
They do apparently at least 'look' at the pictures , everytime I've blown though one , it's been a blizzard , and I've never gotten a ticket.

So at least there's that I guess.
 
Agreed - it's a just another source of revenue for cities. I make it a point to avoid them when at all possible. Cities that support and use red light cameras leave a bad taste in my mouth. I equate them to that shady businessman who takes bribes under the table.

Round-abouts would be great but they just aren't utilized here in the US. So for the US, the solution is quite simple -- Add timers to the lights. In fact, it should be a requirement for any red light camera intersection. You want to put a camera at this location? Fine - it has to have a timer to go along with it. Guaranteed loss of $$$ for both the city and contract company which is why you will never see this enacted.
 
BrainEater said:
Full on cash grab , but no ,I've never gotten stung...
They do apparently at least 'look' at the pictures , everytime I've blown though one , it's been a blizzard , and I've never gotten a ticket.

So at least there's that I guess.
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the ones in VA are viewed by someone before the summons is issued. You also get a web link to a video showing the infraction.
My sister got one for a right on red and the video clearly shows her just tapping her brakes as she makes the turn.
 
sfsuphysics said:
You want to save lives with red light runners? Ditch the cameras and simply have a longer delay between lights turning red and the perpendicular going green.

But no, that doesn't help fill city coffers, and more to the point, fill the pockets of the private companies who make these deals with cities. Bottom line is you aren't paying for the ticket of running a red light, you're paying the ticket plus an "administrative fee" of the company that leases the equipment to the city. And cities love them, they don't have to pay for equipment, they don't have to pay for maintenance of equipment, all they need is one certified officer to look at the pictures and rubber stamp an OK on all of them.
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Sorta happens when governments want to make budgets without "taxes" they look for other ways to fill gaps, still doesn't seem as morality deficient as some area charging court, jail, public defender, probation fees etc which just automatically put some people in jail because inability to pay fees.
 
Red light cameras was a scam from the start. I avoid intersections that have them because they are that much bullshit.
 
The tickets issued are not legally binding unless the picture/video identifies the driver.....Here in TN they a strickly rear view camera shots and are not legally binding....if you get one in the mail you can ignore it and you will never hear from them again.
 
HemiRick said:
The tickets issued are not legally binding unless the picture/video identifies the driver.....Here in TN they a strickly rear view camera shots and are not legally binding....if you get one in the mail you can ignore it and you will never hear from them again.
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Unfortunately where I live you can't do that. They just treat it as a parking violation, doesn't matter who was driving, you are the owner and are responsible. If you don't pay it, you car will get the boot or towed when a meter maid /cop runs your plates.
 
sfsuphysics said:
You want to save lives with red light runners? Ditch the cameras and simply have a longer delay between lights turning red and the perpendicular going green.
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One thing I noticed in New Orleans was that there is absolutely no delay between lights turning red and cross street lights turning green. It goes instantly from red to green the moment the crossing intersection goes from yellow to red....sometimes there isn't even a yellow. There's no short delay where they're both red.....That would certainly not work here in the Northeast, people are constantly gunning to make the yellow or waiting for the light to change to make a left turn.
 
viscountalpha said:
Red light cameras was a scam from the start. I avoid intersections that have them because they are that much bullshit.
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This.

One of the local cities installed a couple red light cameras several years ago, so I changed how I drive to/from work to avoid the intersections. This means I also changed which stores I stopped at on the way home, so not only did they not make money off me on red light tickets, they also loss the sales tax from the stores I didn't shop at. Figured that was a good way to punish them.

Cameras are no longer there, as they where not making enough money to pay for the cameras, let alone make a profit.

Most the people who ended up getting tickets, got them for not coming to a complete stop before turning right on a red light. Completely bogus, since they sell the idea of the red light cameras as stopping accidents caused by people blowing through the red lights, NOT people who didn't stop for the required 3 seconds before turning right.

The few times I had to go through one of these intersections, and had to make a right turn while the light was red, I made sure to stop completely and count to 5, just in case. I'm sure the people behind me weren't happy, but I wasn't going to risk a ticket.
 
nutzo said:
since they sell the idea of the red light cameras as stopping accidents caused by people blowing through the red lights, NOT people who didn't stop for the required 3 seconds before turning right
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People who didn't stop before turning right ARE people blowing through the red light.

nutzo said:
The few times I had to go through one of these intersections, and had to make a right turn while the light was red, I made sure to stop completely and count to 5, just in case.
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So it sounds like they are improving safety then.
 
Germany had red light cameras. 2 types. One that monitors for traffic accidents. The other is like a speed camera. At the red light, if it detects speed, it takes a picture. After the red light has been on for a few secs, it takes a second picture. 1st is to check what car just ran the red light. The 2nd picture is to verify if it actually blew the red light. Cause sometimes ppl don't actually run the red light, as they brake hard to stop.

As for the US, I'm from Idaho and the cameras in my hometown doesn't seem to do anything. I'm guessing just there to monitor traffic. Never heard of any tickets from them.
 
Over here we got red light cameras that are also set to take speeding tickets, i got flashed twice by the same camera in a single month due to not knowing that for speeding in order to catch a blinking green light.

but i`m all for dropping the hammer on anyone that passes a red light once the light switched to red , it`s no less than attempted murder in my book.

as for normal speed cameras on roads , that is just money grab BS.
 
I thought this was already really well known? There have been research papers showing that it actually increases crashes and rear endings. There was also a big lawsuit against a city not long ago because they were seeking more money, so they actually reduced the yellow light time to a very low setting (crashes went through the roof), causing most people to think they have enough time and they would end up getting a ticket, this went on for some time before someone caught on. When will people learn the state does NOT have your interest at heart?
 
I wish they would install red light cameras in my city. The amount of red light runners is disgusting. I work at a secondary school and it's is extremely disconcerting how many cars, run red lights, at the intersection at the entrance to the school and intersections nearby. A kid, on the soccer team I coach, was hit by a moron running a red last year.
 
I think its easier to just not run red lights. When I come upon an intersection and I can see the countdown, I can gauge if I can make it. If not I slow down.
Maybe I am not in a rush at my age? :)
 
thankfully, my city responded to the severe outrage that these POS cameras caused when they were installed. Over the 2 - 3 years that we had them, it was just like they mentioned in the article, the number of accidents in the major areas where they were used went up by a lot. Yeah, so you'd think that getting people to pay attention to the lights would make things safer, right? exept for the fact that now, because they decreased the yellow-light timer by a lot, people were literally slamming on their brakes to avoid getting a ticket....only to then be rear-ended by the person behind them. the damage caused by these types of accidents actually outnumbered the accidents that had previously happened by people running the red lights.

and of course, since it's not a criminal offense, and there is no real-life person there to testify, there was absolutely no way to dispute the charges, regardless of whether they broke the law or not. and you'd think "a picture tells a thousand words"....except, it really doesn't. for instance, there were people who were getting fucked over by these cameras because the timing was off. the cameras were actually snapping their photos about a second or so too soon, so people who were still in the right were getting popped for running a red light, when in fact it was actually still yellow. and of course, it's some joe blow against a "professional" corporation who makes their living doing these cameras, so it was impossible to fight the tickets, if you could even submit a dispute in the first place.

finally, our city had enough and put it to a vote, and the majority of people here wanted these fucking asshats gone, so they ripped out every single traffic camera that the provider installed, and just replaced them with "monitoring" cameras. they still have cameras at a lot of intersections, but they do not issue tickets, and are only there to show the facts as they unfolded in the event of a traffic issue/accident.

like has been said before, the best way to actually prevent accidents is to 1) make the yellow light stay yellow longer so people have more time to react to the yellow light, and 2) introduce a delay of about 2 - 3 seconds between the time one light goes red and the next turns green.

this way, you have much less of an chance for someone to "gun it" through a yellow light and cause an accident, because the light stays yellow longer, giving them time to get through, and the next light won't turn green for a few seconds anyway, so that even if the light does end up turning red before the person enters the intersection, by the time the next light goes green, they should already be through the intersection, preventing the majority of red-light accidents. and you also (usually) don't have people feeling they need to slam on their brakes for a yellow light, causing the person behind them to rear-end them if they weren't paying enough attention.
 
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