Posted on 03/13/2009 6:59:15 AM PDT by Aglooka
Wait until the lawsuits force the governments to throttle back on the red light money machines ...
A news story yesterday was about Georgia (?) passing a state law extending the yellow by one second wherever a red light camera was installed.
Not only were accidents reduced (cars slamming on their brakes and getting rear ended) but tickets dropped dramatically.
So did ticket revenue, so the localities were pixxed.
I suppose they could just pay a bunch of cops to stand at intersections and use technology to nail people for running lights. Or, they jack the fines through the roof for people running lights to pay for the cops and the technology. Or, maybe if people just followed the traffic laws then none of this debate would be necessary.
“Or, maybe if people just followed the traffic laws then none of this debate would be necessary.”
Hmmm...”Last year, The Los Angeles Times found that 80 percent of the tickets generated by that city’s red light cameras were given to people turning right on red!”
it is well known the relationship between the duration of the yellow and accidents/running reds/giving tickets.
cops are encouraged to ticket people and generate more money for the locals. this should be illegal, but the ones deciding whether or not its illegal.... are the ones benefiting from its abuse. (no conflict of interest here...)
Most of the tickets, from the Georgia story yesterday,
were on people who were EXITING the intersection when the light turned red. It’s revenue generation.
Lengthen the yellows and the cameras become irrelevant.
Dat’s Eggs Ackley what happened to me in Brecksville, Ohio. Cop tried to nail me by shortening the yellow/caution light to 1 second using a hand held controller. I slammed on the brakes, and glared at him. He laughed back at me! I had to pull over a block later to move my toolboxes and pipes, tools, etc. back into the back of the van. Thank Goodness nothing fell onto my head!
If the lights are timed well then you have far less of a problem. People are incentivized to head through the intersection on yellow when the green is 15 second long and while the cross street’s green is a minute long. However, making the yellow longer in duration means people blow through the light since it is far less likely that it turns red until they hit the other side.
The best safety solution is to have all lights at red before something changes. Going to red then giving cut over or cross traffic a green at the same time is a bad idea.
Yet how many here, law and order republicans will tell you to love, obey, and perform Proskynesis, before “authorities”. Many people are taught from a young age that it is their civic duty to view the Police as “good” and the city government as benevolent. They are therefore sheep to the slaughter to dishonest, sarcastic jaded public officials. “Truth”, “Justice” as entities to honor do not exist in these systems of revenue. The “authorities” abrogate inherent virtue and prestige by these actions. But it has been going on for over a hundred years in this country so I don’t see it changing anytime soon, and certainly as long as otherwise responsible citizens see the abuse as a necessary down payment on acquiring order amongst the citizens, and most of all SAFETY (it’s fer the children...whaaaaaaa).
No kidding. How hard is it to understand that when the light is red, you stop.
These cameras need to be taken down. I also won't shed any tears if they are shot.
Yes, a favorite word of mine, also expected in the Byzantine court and rendered to the emperor. They had a long (thousand year) conflict with the Persians and took on some of their ways.
Oh, and I had great fun singing it!!!!!
Classic Non Sequitur
Arrrgh! Now I can’t stop singin’ it! Earbug! Darn!
“I suppose they could just pay a bunch of cops to stand at intersections and use technology to nail people for running lights. Or, they jack the fines through the roof for people running lights to pay for the cops and the technology. Or, maybe if people just followed the traffic laws then none of this debate would be necessary.”
I repeat:
Classic Non Sequitur
Pro—sky—nesis Proskynesis... Proskynesis... LOL
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