Autoblog

REPORT: Billings, MT rushes to install red-light camera before new state law bans them

Michael Harley — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 18:40:00 EST

According to TheNewspaper.com, the city council in Billings, Montana, voted last week to hurriedly approve new automated red-light cameras - conveniently just before they are scheduled to be banned by the state legislature. With a potential clause allowing existing cameras to be grandfathered into legality still in negotiations, Billings would appear to be attempting to load up on the devices before the revenue-enhancing opportunity closes.

Making the action even more suspect, TheNewspaper.com is reporting that Billings Chief of Police, Rich St. John (right), is apparently endorsing cutting the duration of the yellow warning lights during the signal changes to further raise revenue. "Changes in the yellow times after red light camera systems are in place and operational will affect the number of photographed violations, increasing the number of violations...," said St. John in a recent memo. While cutting one second from the yellow light may boost ticket income by 110 percent (according to a 2004 Texas Transportation Institute study), it may also increase crashes by up to 225 percent, according to the same study. Addressing the concern in his memo, Chief St. John seems to be content with his solution of simply proving residents with "public information announcements" alerting them to the quicker lights.

[Source: TheNewspaper]

REPORT: Billings, MT rushes to install red-light camera before new state law bans them originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 20 Apr 2009 18:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Houston study lauds red light cameras despite uptick in accidents

Jonathon Ramsey — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:31:00 EST

Filed under: Government/Legal, Safety

We all know we shouldn't mess with Texas. And Houston, Texans shouldn't mess around with statistics, because the folks running the show are going to come to any conclusions they want no matter what the statistics say. This is the easy part: a study of red light cameras in the city shows that accidents have actually increased at intersections with the cameras.

These are the parts that are open to interpretation: most intersections only have one camera looking at one (out of four) directions of traffic, but the accident rate went up for traffic in the other three unmonitored directions; and, in the one monitored direction, "accidents remained relatively flat or showed only a slight increase." What do you make of that?

Mayor Bill White and the study authors say the city in general is experiencing a swell in the number of collisions, and claim that collisions at the monitored intersections haven't risen as much as the wider municipal rate. Yet they have no data to back up an increase in citywide collisions, and no year-on-year accident data at intersections (let alone an explanation for the uptick). White said that a 40-percent year-on-year drop in red light citations in the month of October shows the program is working and keeping drivers more safe. Critics say that the program is nothing but a cash register for city government. The study's authors plan to study insurance industry findings to come up with more substantive conclusions.

[Source: Houston Chronicle]

Houston study lauds red light cameras despite uptick in accidents originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Traffic Enfarcement: What's wrong with this picture?

Dan Roth — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 17:58:00 EST

Filed under: Etc., Government/Legal, Safety

The script for selling one of these "automated revenue enhancement devices" to a municipality might go something like "and the best feature of the Robthepopulace 3000 is that it never makes a mistake - machines don't lie!" Tell that to Thomas, who received a citation in the mail after a South African traffic camera nabbed his VW Polo "clearly traveling in excess of the 60 km/h limit." Right. Technically, the camera is not lying, but machines are incapable of interpreting on their own, otherwise the fleece-bot would have noted that while the car was indeed traveling in excess of the limit, it was on a hook! Thomas got the ticket because his car obscured the plate of the tow truck dragging his little Polo somewhere. While the picture doesn't lie, the government agency drew a false conclusion and stuck to it. We wonder if the amount of the ticket could be deducted from Thomas's income tax to ensure fairness. Now that's just crazy talk. Thanks for the tip, Erwin!

[Source: Daily WTF]

Traffic Enfarcement: What's wrong with this picture? originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 05 Aug 2008 17:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Irony: Red light cameras a safety impediment

Dan Roth — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 09:58:00 EST

Filed under: Trends, Safety, First Drive

Red light cameras are nothing more than a surreptitious tax. Oh sure, they're sold to municipalities as a safety benefit, but what else would you say if you wanted to be paid to install, administrate, and monitor your little ticket-writing bots? The cities and towns that put the cameras greedily snap up the extra revenue generated by dangerously short yellow lights and overzealous cameras. Patrick Bedard has been poking holes in the theory that traffic cameras are the salve for behind the wheel idiocy, and a recent study by the University of South Florida Public Health agrees that the cameras actually cause accidents. Other studies also back up the findings that drivers are quicker to slam on their brakes at yellow lights when they spot the cameras. While it should not play out with a rear ending, nobody maintains a safe following distance, or even pays attention. In some cases, the rate of red light running is low enough that the cameras cause a spike in incidents, proving that the cure can sometimes be worse than the sickness.

[Source: Kicking Tires, Photo: Morning Chu Hi]

Irony: Red light cameras a safety impediment originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 14 Mar 2008 09:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Study: Maryland county's red light cameras net $2.85 million, increase accidents

Stuart Waterman — Wed, 05 Apr 2006 09:06:00 EST

Filed under: Trends, Government/Legal, Safety

Anne Arundel County in Maryland has been running five red light cameras for five years, during which period they raised a fat $2.85 million in ticket revenue. Unfortunately, a comparison of accident statistics shows that the cameras have increased the rate of accidents.

Immediately after installation, the cameras sparked a 40-percent increase in rear-end collisions, and never looked back, with five-year increases in accident rates far exceeding a 10-percent increase in traffic.

Unfortunately, this is hardly an isolated phenomenon. TheNewspaper.com reports similar results in the state of Georgia, where the city of Duluth's one and only camera is forecast to generate a whopping $1 million next year, at the cost of a 21-percent increase in accidents. A study by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution showed red light cameras were linked to an increase in accidents, injuries and revenues across the state, although there is early indication that the rate of serious accidents in intersections is falling.

Critics charge that cities are at best trading one kind of accident for another, and that the proliferation of traffic cameras is really just a money generator, while advocates maintain that they encourage safer driving.

[Sources: theNewspaper.com, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution]

Study: Maryland county's red light cameras net $2.85 million, increase accidents originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 05 Apr 2006 09:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments