Topic: Scam
April 3, 2008 | 
 Denver, Colorado was caught this week attempting to add red light cameras at intersections with short yellow times. Rocky Mountain News reporters videotaped the city’s four proposed ticketing locations and discovered that each had a yellow signal time set at 3.0 seconds — a figure below recommended standards.
A 2005 Texas Transportation Institute study confirmed that yellows shorter than the bare minimum recommended amount cause an increase in both accidents and red light violations. A confidential memorandum obtained from a 2001 court trial in San Diego, California showed that the private vendor in charge of the photo ticketing program take advantage of that increase in the number of violations, as most companies are compensated on a per-ticket basis. For this reason, the company chose to install cameras only at intersections with high volume and Amber (yellow) phase less than four seconds.” «Read the rest of this article»
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By Bill Larson | May 11, 2007 |
Clarksville, TN is considering installing red light cameras in its intersections. This is something which should be vehemently opposed by the public! While no doubt they will tout the safety benefits, it is more likely about the money they stand to gain.
Is this really as serious of a problem as they make it out to be, serious enough to warrant the public accepting the intrusion of traffic enforcement cameras into their daily lives? During the last year in the entire city of Clarksville there were 1,470 accidents at intersections throughout the city, there were an additional 1,274 citations issued for either running a red light or stop sign. There are over 85 intersections in Clarksville which have traffic signals. The entire city averages averages approximately 4 accidents at intersections per day. At Riverside Drive alone, during the last year over 39 million vehicles passed through that intersection.
Studies have shown that these red-light cameras actually increase, not decrease accidents, and that the accidents caused by people panic breaking to avoid a citations are more serious injury accidents. While most intersection accidents are property damage rather than injury.
Why is Clarksville interested in making the same mistakes? It’s about finding new ways to take your money. They will make protestations that they are doing this for safety, but studies have proven that these cameras increase accidents rather than decrease them. Indeed when spoken to by telephone City Councilman Geno Grubbs was dismissive of the safety concerns regarding these cameras. So they must have other motivations. «Read the rest of this article»
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