They aren’t going away.
Far from it.
Learn to protect yourself from them.
$100 / ticket times number of tickets issued = big cash for the city. If the mayor's idiot brother-in-law is hired as a subcontractor, then installation is nearly guaranteed.
2) Discuss the major reasons that drivers run red lights and cause collisions
The yellow light was too short and the drivers didn't have a chance to stop
3) Recall general findings from the literature on camera effectiveness
Cameras are more effective at revenue generation if the yellow light is shortened, thus getting more drivers to run a red light.
4) Recite other countermeasures for red light running collisions besides cameras that may be effective in some places
Longer yellow lights - revenue negative.
Obvious police presence - revenue negative.
Two second 4 direction red light - revenue negative.
5) Discuss the basic criteria that guide effective choices of intersection approaches to receive cameras
Put them up where people are more likely to not see the red light, such as at the end of a blind curve. Ka-ching!
6) Argue the key aspects of effective camera systems such as grace periods, signing, public information, and driver versus vehicle citations
Grace periods are no revenue periods = bad
signing and public information - Warning of red light cameras reduce revenue = bad
Driver citation require a clear picture of the driver who is more likely to go to court, while vehicle citations often don't even have a court option = mo money mo money mo money!
7) Discuss the need for camera system oversight and periodic effectiveness evaluation
When drivers discover the cameras and their location become publicly known, they might interfere with the camera revenue by stopping at the red light. Move cameras often to prevent this.
8) Show how to reduce yellow light duration to ensure more people run red lights.
9) Identify the most dangerous intersections in your city and ignore them, then identify the most used intersections for camera placement.
I’ve heard they’re doing it right in some places, but in others numbers 8 and 9 apply, as they’re doing it purely for income.
Here in Texas they are turning them off because revenue fell off. It isn’t about saving lives. It is about the money.
It is also contrary to the way the law was enforced when I learned to drive, meaning that what counted was the status of the light as you entered the intersection. Plenty of drivers will learn that things have changed and learn it the hard (and expensive) way.
Now consider the effect shortening the yellow light duration will have. Not only do you need the reflexes of a NASCAR driver but a heavy foot as you zoom through to get across the far line in time. This is insanity.
Meanwhile, studies have shown (again I need to find a source link) that increasing the yellow duration - and in many cases that means restoring the recommended minimum!!! - has a dramatic effect on dropping the number of infractions. Yeah, giving a vehicle enough time to clear the intersection under normal operating conditions reduces technicality violations, imagine that.
There ought to be a law - against tampering with the traffic control system.
By far, the easiest way to solve the problem is to delay the green light for the other drivers, say by three seconds. They will not start until well past the time that the light changed.
Red Light Camera Studies Roundup
A collection of red light camera studies over the last decade shows red light cameras have serious side-effects.
Over the past decade, a number of studies have examined the use of red light cameras. The most relevant studies examined the devices in light of changes in traffic and engineering conditions made at intersections during the study period and pulled actual police reports to examine the particular causes of each collision. The following studies are the most comprehensive available:
A 2008 University of South Florida report found:
"Comprehensive studies conclude cameras actually increase crashes and injuries, providing a safety argument not to install them.... public policy should avoid conflicts of interest that enhance revenues for government and private interests at the risk of public safety."
A 2007 Virginia Department of Transportation study found:
"The cameras were associated with an increase in total crashes... The aggregate EB results suggested that this increase was 29%... The cameras were associated with an increase in the frequency of injury crashes... The aggregate EB results suggested an 18% increase, although the point estimates for individual jurisdictions were substantially higher (59%, 79%, or 89% increases) or lower (6% increase or a 5% decrease)."
A 2006 Winnipeg, Canada city audit found:
"The graph shows an increase of 58% in the number of traffic collisions from 2003 to 2004.... Contrary to long-term expectations, the chart shows an increase in claims at each level of damage with the largest percentage increase appearing at the highest dollar value."
A 2005 Virginia DOT study found:
"The cameras are correlated with an increase in total crashes of 8% to 17%."
In 2005, The Washington Post found:
"The analysis shows that the number of crashes at locations with cameras more than doubled, from 365 collisions in 1998 to 755 last year. Injury and fatal crashes climbed 81 percent, from 144 such wrecks to 262. Broadside crashes, also known as right-angle or T-bone collisions, rose 30 percent, from 81 to 106 during that time frame."
A 2004 North Carolina A&T University study found:
"Our findings are more pessimistic, finding no change in angle accidents and large increases in rear-end crashes and many other types of crashes relative to other intersections."
A 2003 Ontario Ministry of Transportation study found: "Compared to the average number of reported collisions occurring in the before period, the average yearly number of reported collisions increased 15.1 per cent in the after period."
Related Reports and Studies
The importance of the yellow warning signal time in reducing the instances of red light running is found in the following reports:
A 2004 Texas Transportation Institute study found:
"An increase in yellow duration of 1.0 seconds is associated with a [crash frequency] of about 0.6, which corresponds to a 40 percent reduction in crashes."
A 2001 report by the Majority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives found:
"The changes in the yellow signal timing regulations have resulted in the inadequate yellow times. And these inadequate yellow times are the likely cause of almost 80 percent of red light entries."
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Note: The preceding excerpts have links to sources at the theNewspaper.com web page linked at the beginning of this post.
My city installed red light cameras without first checking their own county’s law that requires something like 70% of moving violation fines to be given to the school system.
They paid a contractor 70% to install, maintain and collect the fines. After a suit to challenge the legality of this was concluded the city had to pony up several million in taxpayer money to the school system and canned the cameras.