http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/14/irony-red-light-cameras-a-safety-impediment/ Autoblog Comments for Irony: Red light cameras a safety impediment http://www.autoblog.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.autoblog.com en-us Copyright 2008 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/14/irony-red-light-cameras-a-safety-impediment/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/14/irony-red-light-cameras-a-safety-impediment/
I live near a very busy intersection in Los Angeles which has a speed camera--9 times out of 10 an accident occurs here because someone slams on their brakes after seeing the cameras. ]]>Mar 14th 2008 10:11AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/14/irony-red-light-cameras-a-safety-impediment/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/14/irony-red-light-cameras-a-safety-impediment/Mar 14th 2008 10:18AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/14/irony-red-light-cameras-a-safety-impediment/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/14/irony-red-light-cameras-a-safety-impediment/
Can I get a dose of personal accountability for my country please? Thanks.]]>Mar 14th 2008 10:54AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/14/irony-red-light-cameras-a-safety-impediment/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/14/irony-red-light-cameras-a-safety-impediment/Mar 14th 2008 11:20AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/14/irony-red-light-cameras-a-safety-impediment/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/14/irony-red-light-cameras-a-safety-impediment/Mar 14th 2008 11:27AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/14/irony-red-light-cameras-a-safety-impediment/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/14/irony-red-light-cameras-a-safety-impediment/
I'm in the REAL inner city of NYC - dammit I'd rather have a stalling engine than bad brakes. ]]>Mar 14th 2008 11:51AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/14/irony-red-light-cameras-a-safety-impediment/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/14/irony-red-light-cameras-a-safety-impediment/Mar 14th 2008 1:30PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/14/irony-red-light-cameras-a-safety-impediment/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/14/irony-red-light-cameras-a-safety-impediment/Mar 14th 2008 10:22AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/14/irony-red-light-cameras-a-safety-impediment/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/14/irony-red-light-cameras-a-safety-impediment/
The same logic applies to speed traps and greedy officers - people are so busy watching out for speed traps that they are distracted from driving. I don't think speeding really kills. I think that distractions kill.

]]>Mar 14th 2008 10:22AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/14/irony-red-light-cameras-a-safety-impediment/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/14/irony-red-light-cameras-a-safety-impediment/
It solves the corruption problem and the inflation problem!]]>Mar 14th 2008 10:46AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/14/irony-red-light-cameras-a-safety-impediment/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/14/irony-red-light-cameras-a-safety-impediment/
Making traffic enforcement a source of revenue shifts the focus from catching the most dangerous drivers to catching the most drivers.

Enforcement should be solely via points towards drivers ed classes and eventual license revocation. Zero money involved, zero incentive to write millions of garbage tickets like they do now.
]]>Mar 14th 2008 12:41PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/14/irony-red-light-cameras-a-safety-impediment/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/14/irony-red-light-cameras-a-safety-impediment/
Do you think they will reconsider? Nope. Because Hillsborough County would lose a potential source of revenue if they implemented the ideas put out by our very own university. ]]>Mar 14th 2008 10:24AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/14/irony-red-light-cameras-a-safety-impediment/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/14/irony-red-light-cameras-a-safety-impediment/
I have also read some of the articles from Car and Driver... interesting tricks they will play with shortening the yellow light length by a mere tenth or 2 of a second, and it increases the number of offenders. We have several of them here in SF, but then again as soon as the light goes red (yellows are about 4 secs from start to finish), the other side is green (unlike in Tampa where the yellow lights last about 7 seconds AND there is around a 2 second delay before cross traffic gets their green).
Many of the lights here are specifically timed to impede traffic. Typically unless you are in the direction of majority, AND travelling about 2 mph under the speed limit, then you will go red light to red light. this allows the cars that have backed up the block to clear out, but keeps you from being able to keep a good pace.
I have yet to get captured on camera, but i have seen people lock their brakes up trying to stop when they see a camera sign, only to end up blocking the crosswalk and a lane of travel.]]>Mar 14th 2008 12:01PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/14/irony-red-light-cameras-a-safety-impediment/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/14/irony-red-light-cameras-a-safety-impediment/Mar 14th 2008 10:27AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/14/irony-red-light-cameras-a-safety-impediment/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/14/irony-red-light-cameras-a-safety-impediment/Mar 14th 2008 10:36AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/14/irony-red-light-cameras-a-safety-impediment/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/14/irony-red-light-cameras-a-safety-impediment/
An argument can be made that the real culprit is the shortened yellow, but the ONLY reason to shorten the yellow is to enhance revenue from the camera, so it's defensible to say that these cameras are the cause. In some of the egregious cases, the yellows were shortened to something like half the recommended length.]]>Mar 14th 2008 10:59AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/14/irony-red-light-cameras-a-safety-impediment/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/14/irony-red-light-cameras-a-safety-impediment/
Studies have shown that increasing the length of the yellow light by about a second greatly greatly GREATLY decreases collisions in intersections that have had a consistent problem.

Studies (as posted here) show that putting up red-light cameras greatly increase the amount of "oh shnap, I need to slam on the brakes" rear end collisions, and don't really reduce the incidents where some jackass runs the light and t-bones people who just started moving into the intersection.

Furthermore, since the cameras have been seen as cash registers by lots of small towns, governments are putting them up in lots of areas that don't really need them... most of the revenue comes from people running the left turn light (which they often shorten just to be greedy)

My prediction is that the cameras will die off as soon as The General American Populace gets a hold of this data and starts suing municipalities that use the cameras. Frankly, taking the cash back from the government seems like the perfect way to fill that gap left by a poorly insured motorist plowing into the back of your car going 38 MPH. ]]>Mar 14th 2008 11:04AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/14/irony-red-light-cameras-a-safety-impediment/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/14/irony-red-light-cameras-a-safety-impediment/A case could also be made that if more people took driving seriously, and followed the basic rules they needed to pass the d*mn exam, maybe it wouldn't matter if there were cameras at the intersection or not. Oh, that means taking responsibility, but I'm sure that seems retarded to you also.... How about you do some comparative research and compare, the accident and deaths, caused by people blowing red lights, to the people not paying attention and breaking short cause they're afraid of a camera.]]>Mar 14th 2008 11:55AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/14/irony-red-light-cameras-a-safety-impediment/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/14/irony-red-light-cameras-a-safety-impediment/
It is true that the yellow light should signal people to prepare to stop. The problem is that there's a narrow range of timing that's ideal for a given speed of traffic, and that's been established by the study of traffic flow over years. Good planners set the length of the yellow to this recommended length and that reduces collisions.

Municipalities and red-light-camera companies have in many cases shortened this yellow significantly below the recommended length to generate more revenue, and this leads to more accidents as well.

The goal should be a reduction in ALL accidents. A cheap, proven way to do this is to set the ideal length of the yellow. I have no problem with enforcing traffic laws at intersections if it's done properly, but shortening the yellow (thus creating a situation in which more people are likely to run the light) in order to enhance revenues is neither appropriate enforcement nor good safety planning.]]>Mar 14th 2008 12:20PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/14/irony-red-light-cameras-a-safety-impediment/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/14/irony-red-light-cameras-a-safety-impediment/
- What driver education? I have never seen a formal education on the subject that even remotely addresses basics about handling dynamics and emergency maneuvers. If you can pass a vision test requiring less skill than browsing the internet, you can get a license. People are never taught how to drive correctly in the first place which is why we have to witness the circus of acrobatic motoring bullshit with dulling regularity on our daily commutes.

- There are plenty of people on the roads who shouldn't be there, and I'm not just talking about idiots; that's a given. I'm talking about illegal immigrants and illiterates who can't read English or even any language. In my area, this isn't a small concern - when illegal immigrants took a day off from their jobs to make a point in protest, there was still plenty of traffic around, but to see my commute time cut in almost half despite the remaining traffic was an eye-opener to put it mildly.

- Government's purpose here isn't actually about solving the problem with red light running. In the vast majority of cases, the problem of red light running isn't serious enough to warrant the cost of deploying cameras. Government spends that money because it believes it will get a greater return out of said investment.

This isn't about public safety or good driving habits. If it was, then why reduce the yellow light time? Washington DC got busted for that big time last year, changing the yellow light time to 3 seconds instead of normal 5 at any light that doesn't have the cams.

There's actual facts to prove the consequences of these stupid light cams, and they're not helping anyone except government.

At the end of the day it doesn't really matter. People can complain all they want - these crooks know that the great unwashed masses won't vote in high enough numbers to make a difference. I mean hey, there's more important things to worry about: American Idol is on TV tonight.]]>Mar 14th 2008 1:06PM