Posted on 05/19/2014 7:27:37 AM PDT by cutty
Edited on 05/19/2014 8:20:30 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
Those big, ugly early birds began circling over the corporate headquarters of the revenue-camera industry last week when federal prosecutors announced that felony corruption charges had been filed against the Chicago city official in charge of one of the world
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Chicago, eh? What, didn’t Rahm get his cut?
Every level of government is robbing the people of money their families could use. Then they wonder why the economy stinks. Slash government by 50%, reduces taxes by half and see the surge in economic health.
I know of an impeccable source who is a power player in a Rust Belt city.
Whenever the mayor and city council resist one of his (re)development plans, he reminds them that he has a petition to remove red-light cameras always at the ready for circulation and, eventually, a place on the ballot.
The council members contemplate the loss of $15 million annually and quickly dance to his tune.
The ‘safety’ argument has been undermined dozens of times by the very people putting the argument forth. It is thoroughly discredited except among the gullible.
This is what traffic cops are for.
I never realized that Redflex was an Australian company. I thought it was just a bunch of greedy, Chicago thugs ripping off Americans.
These things should be outlawed....all one gets for evidence is a picture of his cars rear end!!! Get behind a truck and can’t see the light....tough....pay up!!!
Cuts one type of accident, increases another.
Granted, for risk of personal injury, t-bones could be worse. Thanks to modern head bolsters and airbags, rear enders are mostly property damage claims.
But ultimately there ought to be a traffic cop there in person. The cop can see the bigger picture.
A hard nose would say it’s up to you to allow enough room in front to see if your light has not yet turned red. And that’s very true. But how do they know what might be rushing up behind you?
It’s already been said, Chicago. But I especially like the line about how Chicago could set an example for all other cities by .....getting rid of the corruption (taking down the cameras). That is hilarious.
They will re-brand, reset and re-contract the service so new players can belly up to the KBT (kick Back Table).
Expand your paradigm. They can be both. :o)
Used ethically, a camera can well be kept to its stated purpose. But that would require them to be used even at a loss. Longer yellows, a little discretion.
And don’t forget that even a cop can be told to generate more revenue.
Rear view camera.
Ping!
Why don’t more people come up behind the camera and spray paint it over the lens? That would stop a lot.
You could carry your own. I’ve seen 360 degree self auto camera systems for sale recently. If something “curious” goes down with your car, you might have a record of it that way.
I agree with you to a point. If a big truck is moving very slowly through an intersection, you can't quite hang back far enough to see a light in time to avoid entering the intersection and getting through it while its yellow. This has happened to me. I got pulled over for "running a red light" at about 7 MPH in a 40 MPH zone (lots of traffic). The officer gave me a warning because 1) I was polite in explaining what happened and 2) He noticed how slow the truck in front of me (and I) were moving. When I started into the very large intersection, it JUST turned yellow. Before I was through it, it was definitely red.
As I approach a green light at traffic speed, I always check to see where the car is behind me just to get an idea of what the affects of stopping quickly might be, especially on stale green lights. I might tap the brakes way in advance if a driver is too close as we approach the intersection. But if they are close and the light turns yellow late, I will not brake hard to avoid running the light. I'd rather get a ticket than have and idiot plow into me.
I’ve followed what’s going on with these cameras for some time. They talk about them preventing those t-bone accidents when people run red lights, yet in just one intersection in Chicago, EVERY SINGLE RED LIGHT CAMERA TICKET was for someone not coming to a complete (and I mean COMPLETE) stop before taking a free right turn.
Even if it was in the middle of the night and there was not another car within a mile of the intersection...
There is also an intersection there where people will take a right to return rental cars at the airport. Looks like a normal intersection with normal visibility, but it has a camera and there is “no right turn on red”.
Then I was in Tacoma WA a few months ago and I went through the shortest yellow light I’ve seen as far as I can remember. In fact, it was so short that I came back to it to see if it was a camera enforced light. Yep.
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