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"I tried to tell folks that this law was easily skirted and that it was only being used to raise money," Hensley said. "It's just a hidden tax on the populous [sic]. It doesn't have anything to do with safety although people think it does."

As a friend of someone who was speared at an intersection by someone trying to “stretch a light”, I would have to disagree with the honorable legislator. In an accident like this, the more injured victim is usually the person who’s light has just turned green and is pulling into an intersection and takes the full brunt of impact on the driver side door.

I’ve got another safer, cheaper alternative- How about not running red lights? As an added bonus you might be able to avoid the guilt of condemning an otherwise healthy person into a premature geriatric state…

Owl_Eagle

”Guns Before Butter.”

A lot of these cities that implement the cameras also shorten the time between yellow and red to generate more revenue. A slower yellow light is probably the best way to save lives.

I take it you have not read all the recent stories about cameras that were "accidently" misprogrammed to ticket people who were not running red lights.

When you get one of these tickets you have no way of knowing what the color of the light was when the picture was taken.

Point well taken.

"of impact on the driver side door. "

Anyone familiar with this "T-bone" accident knows what a killer it is -- Always look both way before pulling out at the 'green' , and please don't run the 'pink' lite !

As a friend of someone who was speared at an intersection by someone trying to “stretch a light”, I would have to disagree with the honorable legislator. In an accident like this, the more injured victim is usually the person who’s light has just turned green and is pulling into an intersection and takes the full brunt of impact on the driver side door.

I’ve got another safer, cheaper alternative- How about not running red lights? As an added bonus you might be able to avoid the guilt of condemning an otherwise healthy person into a premature geriatric state…

I agree completely... Frankly, I'm getting firghtened of riding my motorcycle on the roads anymore. In my car, I NEVER just pull out when the light turns green. I wait and check for traffic, since it seems that trafic signals are now taken as "suggestions." I've actually counted seven seconds after my light turned green before it was clear for me to pull out... The result? Well, I've been rear-ended 3 times at trafic lights in the last 10 months!

Mark

The complaint that people have about these red-light cameras is a valid one. Most of the municipalities that use them do not place them at the intersections with the most extensive histories of accidents related to vehicles running red lights. Instead, they place them at the intersections where they will maximize the amount of revenue that will be collected from the tickets.

In other words, the highest accident rates involving a vehicle running a red light do not necessarily occur at the intersections with the most violations.