http://www.abc15.com/news/local/stor...9-8412e76d8b29
Printable View
"The company boasts its all for the good of public safety.
And the statistics they supplied back that up.
Cameras at intersections stop 40 to 60% of red light runners. They say it prevents accidents and t-bone wrecks that oftentimes are deadly."
If cameras at intersections are stopping 40 to 60% of red light runners, is true, then this explains why many municipalities have shortened the yellow light timing by 1 full second or more (and against the MUTCD guidelines) in order to raise the revenue to pay for these expensive red light cameras. One study shows that shortening the yellow duration by just 1 second results in an 85% increase in accidents, most of which are t-bone wrecks.
So...
-- Drivers now have to make a split second decision whether or not to slam on the brakes or procede through the intersection. Yellow light durations have been shortened such that the driver has exactly 1 second to decide, and their decision is correct only if they are driving exactly at the speed limit and not significantly faster or slower than the speed limit.
-- Aside from the trend of shortening the yellow light duration, another disturbing trend is to also shorten or entirely eliminate the "all red" duration, again to raise revenue from these red light cameras.
-- Drivers now have to pay very expensive fines for running a red light even though the vast majority of drivers complain that the light changed from green to red much too quickly.
-- All of us are seeing slightly higher insurance rates due to the increase in accidents at red light camera intersections.
Public safety? This absolutely the last thing on the manufacturer's mind or your local government's mind when these red light cameras are installed. For the red light camera manufacturers it is a bloody gold mine. For cities and states, it is another source of badly needed revenue.
Oops, is this a rant?
Yep! I'm still mad for being forced to give the State of TX $260 of my money for supposedly running a red light. There was no camera at the intersection, but the yellow light has been shortened to just 2.9 seconds (state law says the minimum must be 3 seconds), a TX DOT engineer told me that the minimum yellow duration for that intersection should be set for 3.9 seconds, the cop was parked below street level and had no way of seeing if my car clearly was already in the intersection when the really short yellow light turned red, and city hall wouldn't hear of my request for a speedy trial (since I was from out-of-state) or even allow me to talk to the prosecutor. Yet city hall gladly took my $260 though! :lol:
wow, i can see many potential problems with such a device.........