CS Red Light Cameras Voted Out

KBTX News 3 - CBS College Station, TX ^ | 11/03/09 | KBTX News 3 (CBS)

[ziravan]

The proposition to do away with red light cameras in College Station passed by a margin of 52-48 percent.

[ziravan]

Thank You, CS Resident Jim Ash for getting the RLC petition to the ballot.

[DoughtyOne]

Excellent. Now on to every other camera pointed toward public spaces...

[RobRoy]

The article cracked me up:

>>Emily Reiter, the secretary for the political action committee working to keep the cameras, Keep College Station Safe, said the vote proves thousands of residents want the cameras to stay up.<<

Yeah, it proved even MORE wanted the cameras down. :p

“We’re gonna continue to monitor the results of this and we just, we’re very disappointed but we really, sincerely hope that more families aren’t caused injury, that more lives aren’t lost as a result of this election,” said Reiter.

Yeah, I’ll bet the rear-end accidents go down. I would be very interested in the statistics as well.

[doodad]

What kind of fool would vote FOR these things?

[ziravan]

What kind of fool would vote FOR these things?

It's a college town and most of the cameras were focused on ticketing students. Since they are all relatively more inexperienced drivers, many of the "permanent residents" believe that driving on the roads is more dangerous during the semester.

The ad campaign was targeted to making it an "us vs. them" thing with the permanent residents vs. students, ala, who cares if the city raises ONE MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR in revenues from these cameras if the students are paying the tab, oh, and, they might be safer, too*

*(if you don't look too closely at our stats)

That wasn't the blatant campaign, but that was the intent. If the issue is safety, then all RLC should have a full 5-second yellow. Of course, when Georgia made this a law, it proved that the cameras can't be profitable IF safety is the actual goal.

[grand wazoo]

In Illinois it’s a big scam. It is almost always for a right-turn-on-red which is legal. The argument is that you didn’t make a complete stop.

People who pay “tickets” issued by the red light camera companies are giving their money away. If the ticket isn’t issued by a city or municipality, then not paying it won’t affect your driving record. There is no way that the red light camera people can collect on it. Ignore the notices and if they send a collection agency after you send them a “drop dead” letter. (Be sure to send the “DD” letter registered mail with a return receipt request)

If more people fought this nonsense, these companies couldn’t stay in business.

[2harddrive]

I wonder if your advice, which sounds reasonable, would hold up in Texas? Our traffic laws may be a bit different, but this seems more a question of DEBT under the Uniform Commercial Code, than traffic law. Any Texas lawyers have an opinion?