PA - Fatal crash study shows effectiveness of RLCs

[krypton2]

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pitt.../s_720901.html

A study and news article about the effectiveness of red light cameras, comparing the cities of Pittsburgh (which does not have RLCs) and Philadelphia (which does).

[AirMoore]

Insurance Institute for Highway Safety = /credibility.

I mean the Insurance agencies whom "support" them wouldn't have any vested interest in a study with a study with an outcome like this right... right?

[krypton2]

Insurance Institute for Highway Safety = /credibility.

I mean the Insurance agencies whom "support" them wouldn't have any vested interest in a study with a study with an outcome like this right... right?

Heh, interesting catch. I didn't notice that initially but I will admit I didn't read the article very carefully.

The primary reason I posted this is because this article/study resulted in the creation of a new House bill either yesterday or today to bring RLCs back into discussion. Similar bill as the ones in the past.

[OpenRoad]

I agree that the numbers can be skewed in favor of Insurance (tickets = greater revenue) Companies. They likely cherry picked intersections where the numbers were in their favor.

[Maestro]

Philly had no choice but to install RLC, I can contest to this by personal experience driving in Philly. The idiots in that city routinely will run red light and I am not talking about miss judging the change from yellow to red or the I do not want to sit through another red impatient driver racing to beat the red. I am talking about the light was red or almost 1 to 3 seconds and they drive right though as if no light was even there.

One time, I pulled up to an intersection, my light was red, waited a few second mine turns green, I was not paying attention so I miss the light turning to green, a few seconds go by and I notice it being green, I start entering the intersection and out of the right comes some idiot driving through the intersection. This would happen all the time, if they did not see cars in the intersection they think it is okay to proceed in spite of what the light says.

I doubt PA will change its law, hell they will not allow locals to have radar because they think towns will use it to raise money, what do u think will happen with RLC.

[yellowcab]

The RLC are not going to solve the running red lights in Philadelphia. I remember a study done years ago stating that 25% of drivers in Philadelphia do not have one or more of the following: a valid drivers license, auto insuance, or a valid vehicle registration.

[krypton2]

I doubt PA will change its law, hell they will not allow locals to have radar because they think towns will use it to raise money, what do u think will happen with RLC.

I fully agree but from a statewide level I have two statements to go along with my opinion:

1) I can see things happening with regards to policing and traffic law in PA within the next four years, most likely next year (2012) if at all. The reason I say that is because for about the past decade, Philadelphia has had the majority rule in the legislative and executive branches. With Corbett now as Governor (although he has been in state/Harrisburg politics for a while he grew up and made his start in Pittsburgh) and a lot of non-Philadelphian House and Senate leaders, there may be enough push to open up things like RLCs to other major cities in the state.

2) While Philadelphia does get the entire citation fine for red light camera violations, they have a limit (five percent of the budget IIRC) as to how much money they can make from them...a similar limit has been established in most of the recent statewide radar use bills and while it hasn't helped, it's almost identical to what did pass years ago in the form of a RLC bill for Philly.

The RLC are not going to solve the running red lights in Philadelphia. I remember a study done years ago stating that 25% of drivers in Philadelphia do not have one or more of the following: a valid drivers license, auto insuance, or a valid vehicle registration.

It's probably worse in Philadelphia as compared to the rest of the state (bigger population so more drivers, more open court cases due to a lack of keeping up with violators, more foreign citizens who never got a license, etc.) but I'll tell ya we definitely have our share of suspended drivers and uninsured drivers on this side of the state too. I really think it's a statewide issue for a few reasons.

I know that if an officer sits at any intersection around here and just runs plates all day he can easily get one suspended plate/driver per hour, and that's a minimum; it's usually more like one every 20 minutes if the plate scanning is nonstop...and this enforcement happens often. I could only imagine if there were a few plate readers around here...the only ones I know of are with PSP.