Posted on 03/12/2008 6:42:23 PM PDT by blam
They probably could have saved themselves money in Florida by reading up on the studies conducted in Virginia, which showed similar results. Red-light cameras were in force for a year before the legislation expired.
I just got my citation in the mail yesterday for running a red light flanked by cameras. $100.
While visiting D.C. in a rental car I asked a local what are all those flashes I keep seeing. He replied that is you getting a speeding ticket. Anyhow the rental car company tried to bill me a few months later for some sort of stuff and I threw the bill away and have not heard from them since. I'll let the Judge throw Alamo in Jail!
I haven't got a ticket in years. So I don't know why DC should think I deserve so many for just a couple days. I already pay enough taxes! I'll let the suckers who live there support the traffic system. We hired a police officer out here one year and crime went way up, so we fired him and things are peaceful again. We just look out for ourselves and our neighbors.
I ran a red light the other day.
I was driving past a school on an unfamiliar road. Immediately prior to the intersection was a designated crossing for the school - designated by a huge crossbar festooned with blinking yellow lights hanging across the road.
I spotted this a couple hundred yards ahead, mentally classified it as a distraction and unconsciously filtered it out.
So when the traffic light behind and inline with it went yellow, that got filtered as part of the crossbar and I never saw it until it turned red - which with reaction and comprehension time was too late.
This dangerous situation would clearly have been prevented with a shorter yellow and an expensive camera. /sarc
Crashes through the intersection are reduced, rear enders immediately prior to the intersection greatly increased.
We have had red light cameras here for some years. Within a couple weeks, you learned to approach those intersections with genuine caution - not for the camera, but for the idiot in front of you panic braking at the first flash of yellow.
Of course nothing has changed; the county doesn't care about a few rear enders so long as their cut of the checks keeps coming in.
This data is suspect to me. In Dallas,Tx the number of side impact accidents has dropped 70% in two years - where there are cameras. I think cameras are a great tool of law enforcement. We have no problem using aerial robots and spy satellites to catch terror suspects, why should we have a problem stopping red light runners with a camera?
Whether this is true or not (there are other studies that show the opposite), red light cameras are on their way in — not out. They bring in revenue.
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