[MRRiley]

They've be IN and then OUT and now back IN in Virginia. Of course, proponents claim they are intended to enhance/improve safety, but we all know they are really about revenue...

And there is a certain amount of data that indicates that while they may reduce cross-intersection collisions, they actually increase rear-end collisions caused when the front car slams on their brakes to avoid a ticket and the rear car (who's driver is watching the signal more closely than the car in front of him) doesn't notice that the lead car isn't trying to beat the light.

Of course, compounding the problem are yellow signals that are often far too short to give vehicles which are legitimately to close to the signal at prevailing speed to safely stop a chance to stop without technically running the light. These are why I believe this is really a revenue scam... If it were truly about safety, the lights would all have appropriate yellow light durations.

In fact I would like to see a "flashing green" to indicate that it was getting ready to change to yellow within, say, 5 seconds.

Mike

[mikemike]

My brother-in-law got a fine from one of these because he slammed on the breaks when the light turned yellow and he knew that the intersection had a camera, only problem was it was raining and he started hydroplaning through the intersection.

---------- Post added 10-16-10 at 09:32 AM ----------

Do you have speed cameras all over the U.S

They put CC crime cameras all over the place in New Orleans. They just shut this program down last week too. The problem was that in the high crime neighborhoods the cameras were repeatedly broken.

In 7 years the program yielded 6 convictions. 3 for violent crime and 3 for kickbacks and corruption.

In case you didn't guess, the corruption convictions were against the camera's vendor.

[Steve Beswick]

They've be IN and then OUT and now back IN in Virginia. Of course, proponents claim they are intended to enhance/improve safety, but we all know they are really about revenue...

And there is a certain amount of data that indicates that while they may reduce cross-intersection collisions, they actually increase rear-end collisions caused when the front car slams on their brakes to avoid a ticket and the rear car (who's driver is watching the signal more closely than the car in front of him) doesn't notice that the lead car isn't trying to beat the light.

Of course, compounding the problem are yellow signals that are often far too short to give vehicles which are legitimately to close to the signal at prevailing speed to safely stop a chance to stop without technically running the light. These are why I believe this is really a revenue scam... If it were truly about safety, the lights would all have appropriate yellow light durations.

In fact I would like to see a "flashing green" to indicate that it was getting ready to change to yellow within, say, 5 seconds.

Mike

I have friends in Sterling, so I know what you are talking bout. As I understand it there are two considerable differences between the red light cameras in Virginia and the ones in California; While the ones in VA charge you $50 with no points added to your record, the ones here in CA add $200 to a regular red light violation, and a point to your record. For example, my last ticket broke down to something like this:

$190 - Red light violation
$200 - Red light camera maintenance fee
$40 - Rancho Cucamonga Superior Court traffic violation contest fee

That's right, for a short time the court was actually charging people for fighting tickets. It didn't last long due to it being very unconstitutional, but nobody ever got a refund either. Besides, the real point is the biggest number above - $200 extra because it was a red light camera.

If I am wrong about how VA does it then I am sorry, but all I have to go on is second hand information.

[Phil1]

$190 - Red light violation
$200 - Red light camera maintenance fee
$40 - Rancho Cucamonga Superior Court traffic violation contest fee

You have been Californicated. It's gonna get much better with the $19 billion state budget shortfall, the state employee union pension fund shortfalls, #1 in welfare and many cities in deep peanut butter. Got a business still? You better move it.

[Steve Beswick]

$190 - Red light violation
$200 - Red light camera maintenance fee
$40 - Rancho Cucamonga Superior Court traffic violation contest fee

You have been Californicated. It's gonna get much better with the $19 billion state budget shortfall, the state employee union pension fund shortfalls, #1 in welfare and many cities in deep peanut butter. Got a business still? You better move it.

I know. I've lived here almost my entire life. My stepdaughter graduates high school in ~3.5 years, and when she does I am out of here faster than you can say "The Broken State", which is my new motto for California. Don't get me wrong, there are things that I will always love about this place, but as a whole, I hope the big one really does send it into the ocean. I visit other states, and the people there tell me how bad the traffic / corruption / pollution / schools / whatever (you pick) are getting, and I can't help but laugh.

Last month I visited Nebraska, and to say I was unbelievably impressed doesn't nearly cut it. My wife and I were visiting family in the beautiful city of Hastings, and one night my wife went out with her cousin to a ladies only event. Her uncle took me to the Hastings High football game. It was then I witnessed something I haven't ever seen with my own eyes; Everyone - And I mean every single attendee of the game over the age of 6 - stood up, became silent, and put their hand on their heart for the national anthem. Keep in mind that the very full stadium seats over 2,000 people. It was so quiet between "Please rise" and "O say can you see..." that I could hear someone at the other end of the bleachers cough. For a man who has scolded his own friend for not getting of the phone during the national anthem, it was a magical moment.

To put it simply, California sucks.

[Phil1]

I was born in South Gate, young years spent close to Cheech and Chong's man hole cover. Moved to the burbs many years ago but the crap here follows you around. My friend says No Dakota is a similar good place without the ship and lots of real people. The smart guy is Warren Buffet, he still lives in his 50 YO house in Omaha. The few Hollywierd folks with brains clear of drugs moved elsewhere years ago.

[Steve Beswick]

I was born in South Gate, young years spent close to Cheech and Chong's man hole cover. Moved to the burbs many years ago but the crap here follows you around. My friend says No Dakota is a similar good place without the ship and lots of real people. The smart guy is Warren Buffet, he still lives in his 50 YO house in Omaha. The few Hollywierd folks with brains clear of drugs moved elsewhere years ago.

Yeah, I figure if Omaha is good enough for the richest man in the world, then it is good enough for me.

Edit: make that third wealthiest. Still good by my count.

[Phil1]

An interesting twist on the camera corner traps: Los Angeles is close to bankruptcy. They reportedly have $260,000,000 outstanding in just parking violations. The city is about 1/3 illegal, 1/3 flakes on welfare and then the rest. The city brain trust and Mayor Vivamexico are reluctant to use many of the camera devices as they feel the violations won't be paid anyway. So many drivers have no licenses or insurance besides the state laws saying you must have a (real) DL and insurance. Yuh gotta love diversity right?

"A similar audit conducted three years ago revealed that only 52% of billings were collected. In other words, the 53% collection rate represents a failure to fix a system that was already known to be broken. The meager "progress" in improving collections since the previous audit is "outrageous and unacceptable," according to City Controller Wendy Gruel."

I do remember many years ago they offered a delinquent ticket amnesty if the original fine was paid within a certain time window. Shhh, don't tell them about that

Waste Watcher: Los Angeles's $260 Million Dollar Annual Sinkhole - Unpaid Parking Tickets and IOUs - Publications - CSSRC

I gave a good idea, lets vote them all back in and give them a retirement we cannot afford like the City of Bell does!

[Ira]

Here's another freaky concept, and they already have the technology:

You have your transponder and toll account for your new car. You use it once, and your car's profile is now scanned and locked into memory.

The next morning, you're a felon fleeing the state (choose your crime), and you steal your neighbor's transponder and/or tag to avoid detection. Police are looking for Mr. Smith, but your account indicates Mrs. Schwartz.

Doesn't matter, because the system knows your vehicle's profile--even if it's one of 50,000 2010 Escalades out there. Taking a sledge hammer to a fender doesn't make a difference either, and even if it's Escalade numbers 20 and 21 rolling off the assembly line that morning, there are mm's of difference making each vehicle unique. The system ignores the sledge hammer variance, because everything else matches.

So the lesson is, take the train instead.

[JavaJoe]

As a former employee of the Florida Department of Transportation (Florida's Turnpike Division), may I throw these factoids at you?

1) Communities install red light cameras...citizen group lawyers go to court to stop them...cameras ruled illegal because communities can't usurp state law...state changes law...so hello cameras, coming to a corner near you.

2) Camera vendors get more than half of the revenue, and there is zero evidence/statistics that prove these cameras reduce accidents--zero--and quite possibly cause even more.

3) States and highways like the Florida's Turnpike which utilize open road tolling--a transponder that bills your SunPass account as you use the system and pass under radio transmission gantries--allow you to travel without stopping to fiddle for change. But guess what?

Get on at Point A (Ft. Lauderdale, for example), and exit at Point B (Orlando), and the system knows you averaged 83mph to make the journey, and say hello to ANOTHER ticket coming to your mailbox soon.

As said above, when it comes to money, money always win--and freedom and safety and justice have nothing to do with it at all.

Number three however is nothing new. NJ Turnpike, with those tickets you get have recorded the time (time stamped) you got the ticket and the time you cashed it in. Nothing new under the sun just a different way of doing the same damn thing.

[Ira]

Number three however is nothing new. NJ Turnpike, with those tickets you get have recorded the time (time stamped) you got the ticket and the time you cashed it in. Nothing new under the sun just a different way of doing the same damn thing.

But do you get a ticket for speeding based on that?

That information isn't logged into any database to compare the distance and speed between the two locations, right?

It's just a time stamp on a ticket that's not connected to your vehicle.