Red Light Camera

Here's another attack on red light cameras by Patrick Bedard at the Car and Driver: 

The most significant arguments I agree with Mr. Bedard are the following: 

1. You can't force the owner of the viehcle to rat out the actual driver. As long as the prosecution doesn't have sufficient evidence proven it's the driver who was driving, they can't convict the driver. 

2. It's conflict of interests since the evidences are collected by a for-profit organization which makes profit from every conviction. 

3. Red light camera is not about safety, it's about revenue. 

4. Red light cameras may increase rear-end collisions at the intersection. 

Nevertheless, I do think Mr. Bedard needs to provide more details about the studies he cited in his article. There are many uncertainties such as whether the increase of accidents associated with the installation of red light cameras are inline with accidents increase due to other factors such as traffice flow and population increase. 

Robot Revenuing: Shots Were Fired - Column

When the cameras go up, the money comes in: shorten the yellow to boost the take.

BY PATRICK BEDARD
March 2008

"This just in: A red-light camera on Broadway Street in Knoxville, Tennessee, has suffered fatal gunshot wounds. Three bullets struck the device, destroying the lens and rendering it inop. Clifford E. Clark III, 47, holed up in a nearby minivan, was arrested and charged with felony vandalism." 

"Let’s be clear about the tyranny here. This is not about running red lights. Camera enforcement is a revenuing scheme ... "

"Moreover, it’s a robot employed by a for-profit business that makes its profits from guilty verdicts. It makes nothing on innocent verdicts. Such an obvious conflict of interest should bring out allthe rifles." 

"Students: Test your knowledge. Red-light cameras are about (a) the money, (b) the money, (c) THE MONEY." 

"This tyranny will fall as research builds a slam-dunk case that it’s a safety sham. A report last year, funded by the Federal Highway Administration and the Virginia Department of Transportation, said that “cameras were associated with an increase in total crashes.” Six Virginia cities with red-light cameras were studied. Injury crashes were down five percent in one and up from six to 89 percent in the others. Rear-enders were up in all the cities, by 136 percent in Falls Church and 139 percent in Arlington." 

"Crashes were up in Stockton, California, too, from an average of 14 per year before to more than 20 per year in the 2004–6 period, after red-light cameras were installed. Same story in Seattle, where crashes rose from 4.94 per intersection before to 5.25 after cameras were installed at four intersections. Untroubled by the facts, Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske declared complete victory and proposed camera coverage on 14 more intersections."

"If red-light cameras don’t reduce violations, what does? The length of the yellow light is the most important factor, says the Texas Transportation Institute, which studied 181 intersection approaches over three years. Adding one second to the Institute of Transportation Engineers formula cut violations by 53 percent. Conversely, shortening the ITE time by one second hiked violations by 110 percent." 

"As good as it might be for safety, lengthening the yellow is bad for (a), (b), and (c) above. San Diego saw a $2 million increase in revenues in the first year after trimming its “grace period” to 0.1 second versus 0.3 to 0.5 before. In Dallas, 7 of the 10 highest revenue-raising cameras have yellows shorter than the minimum recommendation of the Texas Department of Transportation." 

"When the choice comes down to safety versus the money, safety doesn’t stand a chance."

Copyright ©2007 Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S., Inc.