Red Light Cameras

[dougallman]

Several things you can do if you want to eliminate the intrusive red light cameras.

A. Cover your license plate with a clear cover that you can read when standing or in a car directly behind your vehicle but that will not allow reading it when at any angle such as an overhead camera. Found it online and we have on all our vehicles for over a year now. Have had a State Trooper, Sherriff (twice) and a city cop directly behind us and never been stopped.

If you do get stopped you may get a ticket for having you license covered but no points. Better than a speeding ticket.

B. Leave the license plate off your vehicle OR use one that is registered to someone else. They can only give you a ticket for not having the correct plate attached - no points, or not having the vehicle licensed, again no points.

I know of some that do not even license their RV's and use an outdated plate. Rare to get an RV stopped unless in an accident and then can only be ticket for unlicensed vehicle.

It is not required that a vehicle be licensed to be insured. (in most all jurisdictions).

Kind of making the law abiding citizen do things that we would under normal conditions never think of doing to protect themselves but then you gotta do what you gotta do if you are going to exist in this police state.

[LaTriker]

Per the Louisiana CDL Manual, at MH going 45 miles per hour will travel 264 feet in four seconds. The manual also states that your total stopping distance at 45 mph is 310 feet. So, between 264 and 310 feet you can neither stop nor make the light before it turns red. There is a problem with the four second yellow light.

[dickandlois]

The issue regarding the length of the yellow warning at camera controlled intersection has surfaced in our area.

The cameras only work as well as the software controlling them and over a 1000 tickets where issued for one of the cameras. NOT one of the drivers where aware of the Timing issue for the length of the yellow. Until a driver with the help of an attorney challenged the issue in regards to the length of the yellow.

State was requested to check the system with the attorney present. The yellow was less then 1 second. law requires no less then 3 seconds. Now the the company and the city are in a legal fight over who is responsible for refunding the fees charged for the wrongfully issues tickets. A minimum of 50,000 dollars and the time and cost of removing the bad ticket from all those that received a ticket because of the technical problem; and getting the Insurance increased premium fees because of them reduced and the over charge returned, could go on for some time.

The fact that the company or the city have not come to a resolution, there is a good chance the courts will order them to be turned off.

I see both the good and bad side of the issue of cameras, but the the system needs the cameras to log every cycle. Print the cycle time of the lights on the picture taken.

The cameras used at intersections with speeds above 30 mph. must have a flashing interval of 2 seconds for each 5 mph increase in the speed limit above 30 mph. This is needed to allow the driver, an advanced warning of the status of the intersection light and the pending red.

This would extend the intersection timing and reduce the number of vehicles passing through these intersections, but the areas of the country that chose to use them, need to know there is a tradeoff.

Rich.

[MarYJac04]

Mexico has a much better signal light solution to this problem. The green light flashes on and off three times prior to the caution light. In some areas the same is true going from red to green. This gives the driver much more time to stop.

[jrwitt]

Mexico has a much better signal light solution to this problem. The green light flashes on and off three times prior to the caution light. In some areas the same is true going from red to green. This gives the driver much more time to stop.

Any city that would install a $profitable$ red light camera would never install a system like this. It would cut deeply into their revenue. Face it. These traffic traps are huge money makers. It has nothing to do with traffic safety. Just saying. And. that's not to say that there are not some honest municipalities that really do use red light cameras for traffic safety. BUT ... THEY WOULD NEVER CUT THE YELLOW LIGHT SO SHORT THAT IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE TO STOP IN TIME!!!!

[Walt2137]

Believe the solution to problems with light cameras is simple. If cameras are installed for revenue or what some government agencies call safe, the law should require a countdown clocks which indicate how long before the YELLOW is activated. This would allow any size vehicle time to avoid one more local tax. The countdown clock should be the law in every state that is if the camera is not a revenue source.

That would not make any difference in Louisiana because running a yellow light is conserded tha same as running a red light, go figure. I wonder why have the yellow light?

The above information is from my sister-in-law when she went to traffic court in the little town of Woodworth just outside of Alexandra La and a known speed trap and has been for years if you go through there do not get 1 mile over the posted limit. She did the research and the judge was correct she said it is considered a red light.

[yellowboat]

In Washington State yellow lights are 4 seconds long by state law. Also, if you enter an intersection while the light is yellow you control the intersection till your rig clears the intersection except when traffic is stopped. You are not allowed to enter an intersection on a yellow or green light if traffic will not allow you to clear the intersection. Also, they look to see if you made a complete stop before crossing the "stop line" painted on the road. If you roll through the stop line you will get a ticket. Stop light cameras will only flag cars that roll through the intersection on a red light but their video cameras record all activity at that intersection. Police can order the video if needed.

How do I know this you ask? I just completed a safe driving course because I was doing 42mph in a 35mph zone near a school.

The police officer denied that rear end crashes are increasing because of red light cameras. I didn't argue with him even though I now stop short on yellow lights after I got a ticket from a red light camera.

JD

[f301359]

You can also contest the ticket by "written declaration". That means when you get the citation in the mail with your picture in the drivers seat, write a letter to the court handling your case and state your opinion about not having enough time to stop. You might catch a break. As for not paying the ticket, most states have a thing called "reciprocal enforcement" and that means that a ticket (moving violation) would appear on your driving history and when it goes to warrant, because your chose to ignore it, then your state could/would suspend your license until you settled with the Florida court. A call to your local DMV will answer any questions you have about out of state moving violations. Good luck and keep us informed on how you made out.

[ticat900]

Thanks guys, I cannot afford to fight this, I am 1000 miles from there, so they know I will not come back by the court time. The reason I asked about the yellow time is I think this thing is to quick to stop and then it produces a ticket when it is clear a truck or large RV cannot stop. At 45 MPH it would be almost impossible to stop in 10 seconds, I watched the video several times, in six seconds I went through the light, and I remember I may have been able to slow down but I was not able to stop in that distance and time.

10 seconds is plenty of stop time. However if you only saw it yellow at the time your brain decided to say stop it would be too late.

If it turned yellow as you entered the intersection you would not get a ticket. It had to be red while you were in the intersection.

[montie]

10 seconds is plenty of stop time. However if you only saw it yellow at the time your brain decided to say stop it would be too late.

If it turned yellow as you entered the intersection you would not get a ticket. It had to be red while you were in the intersection.

Was I surprised when I got notice that this thread was still going, anyway I paid the ticket. I was interested in the articles from the Florida papers about the theft of the public's money by cutting the yellow time, I am surprised some slick lawyer has not jumped in on that. Anyway I entered the intersection just as the light turned red and I could have stopped I think but I decided it was better to run the light than to stop in the middle if the intersection. I watch the film numerous times and the light went red, I know I was guilty but if the light had been up to the minimum times I would have been in the intersection on yellow not red, I think.

[N7KGA]

Check out yellow light requirements in an AASHTO book. You can probably get one at a local library or at city traffic engineers office. This book is what cities and states go by..

. . .

Good morning;

A small possibly minor point of correction: The main publication for traffic signals, signs, lane striping, and other "traffic control devices," is a Federal publication commonly known as the MUTCD, or the "Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices" published by the FHWA. The current version is the 2009 Edition with the 2012 updates. And there are sections in there applicable to Red Light Cameras and other non-attended photographic devices.

The minimum Yellow light or amber light time period is 3.0 seconds. However, there can be a longer time period as a function of the posted speed limit and other factors. And local jurisdictions may adopt a variation to a longer time period.

For example, here in the State of Washington, we used two (2) common minimum time periods for the length of a Yellow light. For speeds under 45 MPH, it was 3.5 seconds, or maybe 4.0 seconds. For speeds of 45 MPH and higher, the minimum time period we used was 5.0 seconds. I believe that this practice is still in use here. A similar practice is followed by many counties and cities.

I still have my old copy of the MUTCD that I kept when I retired after working on traffic signals for about 30 years. For several years, I had "The Most Hated Traffic Signal in the State of Washington" (dubbed that by KOMO radio, 1000 Kc AM) in the group for which I was responsible for maintenance, on US Highway 2 in Sultan, Washington, on the way to Stevens Pass.

Enjoy;

Ralph

Latte Land, Washington

and HamRadioHFMobile on the FMCA forum