Posted on 12/09/2004 12:31:56 PM PST by weegee
Texans are generally gung-ho for law and order. They support the death penalty for capital crimes and tough prison sentences meted out to drug users and multiple offenders. That enthusiasm doesn't seem to extend to automated traffic enforcement systems that can videotape cars zooming through red lights and then mail tickets to the vehicle owner later.
It's the rare Houston motorist who hasn't narrowly escaped being struck by an impatient driver trying to beat a red light. Police officers joke that Houstonians believe a red light means only three more cars can go through the intersection.
Places of business as well as government buildings, Metro light rail cars, and county toll road booths are routinely scanned by video monitors. Given the obvious hazard, one would think the public's elected representatives would welcome additional measures to curb reckless driving.
Not so, as state Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford, found when he introduced a bill two years ago to allow Texas cities to place cameras at intersections to document the license plates of violators. It went down to defeat, 103-34, with his colleagues cheering its demise. King had argued that 20,000 Texans are killed or maimed each year by drivers running red lights. The bill's opponents saw those cameras, in the words of Rep. David Swinford, R-Amarillo, as "government run amok," and an affront to individual rights. The political heat generated was so intense, the issue could have been socialized medicine or abortion rather than traffic enforcement.
Now Mayor Bill White's administration is taking up King's fallen banner and will ask City Council to approve a video crackdown on red light runners. As the Chronicle's Ron Nissimov reported last week, the move was made possible by a little noticed amendment on a transportation bill passed in 2003 that granted Texas cities the right to regulate transportation matters.
Supporters of camera enforcement point to decreases in red light violations and increases in ticket revenue following their installation. Officials of the first city to establish such a system in Texas, the Dallas suburb of Garland, report a 21 percent drop in red light infractions and $700,000 in ticket revenues after the first year of operation. Houston's new police chief, Phoenix import Harold Hurtt, is strongly backing the plan, which would be operated by a private vendor who would receive a percentage of the revenue generated by the system. It's hardly groundbreaking on the national level, since Chicago, New York City and Los Angeles all use such systems.
Although an official in the Houston chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union criticized the use of video cameras as a violation of privacy, Mayor White had a quick riposte: "I respect people's privacy, but nobody has the right to run a red light."
State Rep. Gary Elkins, R-Houston, warns that Houston would be wasting its money because he and others will move to outlaw camera enforcement in the next Legislature. It may be the first time Elkins and the ACLU, often criticized by conservatives as ultraliberal, have seen eye to eye on anything.
In the interest of public safety in Houston, opponents of all political stripes should hold their fire and let city officials call the shots that could make our drivers more careful and law-abiding, and lower traffic-related deaths and injuries on our streets.
Have you seen what the brits do to cameras? They drape an old tire over them and ignite it. Pretty much fries the contents of the camera. 8^>
Red light cameras generally increase the number of rear end smashups as drivers slam the brakes on to avoid a red light camera issued ticket. Instead of reducing accidents, then usually cause an increase due to this change in driver behavior.
There have also been "privacy" suits against government entities when a "robocop" photo of a speeder was mailed to the home inferred by the license plate. More than a few spouses discovered a little "cheating" was going on.
In my town, they borrowed the European 'round about' idea for traffic control, and it has worked quite nicely. I was skeptical at first but that was short lived when my 20 minute commute turned into a 5 minute one. Ditching stop lights and signs has its advantages.
Here's the reason for the all red clearance time. It stops guys like me from watching the other roads green light turn yellow, and then go when it turns red, only to be smacked by some guy running the red. It means I would have to wait until my light actually turned green or face a ticket.
It isn't a panacea, but I can see how it might help avoid a few accidents.
When traffic lights are synchronized like that, you can provide the most efficient progression for traffic on a major artery. But there is a potential safety trade-off when it comes to pedestrians. Many cities have deliberately introduced less-than-ideal signal progression in their downtown areas -- specifically to ensure that drivers don't get used to the notion that they can drive through the downtown area without ever stopping.
Actually, I don't. My comments here are more focused on the operational aspects of intersections than on the cameras themselves.
As I say, the sequential trigger of lights (timed so that the driver had to maintain a speed of 20mph when no traffic was around) keeps the speed low enough that pedestrians are not put at risk.
I really prefer a LIDAR to a RADAR. I've volunteered with local PD and actually used the LIDAR gun. It paints a 2 foot spot at 1200 feet. I can pick out a headlight or a license plate as a reflector on a specific car. The RADAR is a broad beam microwave device that covers the whole street. It is worthless with group of cars moving at mixed speeds.
One of the other article I linked mentioned being ticketed for making a right on red. How common is that?
I agree with that, however, the all-red clearance time should be in addition to the yellow time.
What has happened is that the manual now states that the all-red clearance time can be taken from the amount of time that the light would've been yellow.
So, if in the (distant) past the light would have been programmed with a 6-second yellow and NO all-red clearance time, now you can have a 4-second yellow with a 2-second all-red clearance time.
What's the excuse for unsynchronized lights when pedestrians and downtown areas are not a factor?
I'm thinking of the (Virginia) Fairfax County Parkway, which is a divided highway with a 50MPH speed limit. The traffic light synchronization on that road is atrocious.
Photographer Diane Arbus did street photography and candid portraits (so did Weegee). She wrote something like "Having your picture taken is the risk you face going out in public."
Sounds reasonable to me.
BTW, I had a problem with the "walk" lights in Dallas when I was visiting there. Here in Seattle, they flash red until the traffic with a green light gets a yellow, at which time they go solid red.
What this means is that if you are physically able to walk and run, you can pretty much always walk on a flashing red walk sign. When you see it go solid, you'd better step on it 'cuz you only got a few seconds.
Well, I was doing that in Dallas and when the walk signal went solid, I was a little over halfway across the street and THE LANES I WAS CROSSING GOT A GREEEN LIGHT.
I had an adrenelyn rush that day...
ok, good to hear,
thanks.
Also, is it common practice to shorten the yellow light time when there are no vehicles in the "dilemma zone"?
I've noticed that many traffic lights around Northern Virginia seem to have been reprogrammed recently to shorten the yellow time, but they only seem to do this when there are no cars within the dilemma zone.
There are about 4 loop detectors (referred to as "dilemma zone detectors") in all of the lanes before the traffic light spaced about 50' apart--these serve to let the light know that there is a vehicle in that range, so that it can delay a change to yellow until the are no vehicles in that zone. This is called a "gap out". Sometimes, due to heavy traffic volume, the light never gets a chance to change due to a gap out and it will instead change to yellow due to a "time out".
In those cases where it changes to yellow due to a time out (vehicles in the dilemma zone), it appears to increase the yellow time length.
Why did they make this change? Why shorten the yellow time when no cars are detected in the dilemma zone?
The conspiracy theorist in me says that's because when the red light cameras go in (after Virginia law is changed to allow them), the only loop detectors that will get any maintenance at all will be the ones for the red light camera, and the dilemma zone loop detectors...well, when they stop working, they stop working, and I guess more people will get caught for running a red.
Here they go solid several seconds before the light changes to yellow.
They also have ones with a countdown timer, which can be used by observant drivers to know about how long they've got till the light changes.
The length of the yellow should be based on sound engineering principles, but here in Houston it often is not.
As an engineer myself, I have always said that I would never be successfully ticketed in Houston for running a red light, because I would prove that the time interval of the yellow would require deceleration rates beyond the capability of even a well-maintained performance vehicle.
Were we discussing Seattle I'd agree with you. There's no excuse there for running a red. But Houston ? One second yellows on 35 mph roads are not uncommon.
"One second yellows on 35 mph roads are not uncommon."
A result of malice or incompetence?
I'd strongly lean towards incompetence. Houston police tend to be very forgiving. I passed a highway radar trap at 70 when the speed limit was 55, and no problem. He apparently was looking for the folks doing 90.
I used to carry an oxyacetylene setup in the back of my van. Yeah, I know that would upset some safety-minded folks. I never go a boot though.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.