Those darn red light cameras!

[alexmadison]

Okay, so I get a ticket in the mail the other day (no officer, just those red light cameras that take your picture) for $365 I do some research online and read about how they can issue more tickets if the cut the time of the yellow light in half. No, I don't go around running red lights, but sometimes the yellow light changes when you're already on your way through. I also saw on TV that some people are using their GPS to find the locations of the cameras and they warn you in time to slow down. Anyone tried one of these? The website I was looking at was phantom alert, http://phantomalert-review.blogspot.com/

[Guest Wayne77590]

LOL!

When cameras were first erected in cities, a gentleman went in front of the judge for running a red light. He was in front of the judge and was told that they had pictures of him and his wife sitting in the front seat, running the red light.

The gentleman said, "Guilty your honor, that was not my wife!"

[tbutler]

It is a painful fact that the traffic engineers who program traffic lights don't always take into account the stopping time and distance for larger vehicles. Indeed, I think some traffic lights are not programmed by engineers but just done by the mayors cousin! Given this, a tip that I picked up several years ago in a safety class at an FMCA convention is to watch each traffic light as you come to it. If it has been green for a while, think of it as a stale green likely to turn yellow and prepare ahead of time. It means slowing down a little and having your finger (or foot) on the engine brake ready to pounce at the flash of a light. If you make a habit of watching the lights as you approach you'll likely be caught less often. It takes a little paradigm shift on our part, we aren't driving sports cars. We have to adjust our driving to match the vehicle. If you are in the intersection when the light is yellow and it turns red, you should not be ticketed by the laws in some states. I can't say that is true for all.

We visited friends in Winnipeg a few years ago and they told us of local enforcement practices which included parking a vehicle on the roadside in construction zones. The vehicle had a camera and speed gun which photographed any speeding vehicle. Now there is a thought that will make you slow down in construction zones. They told us of that after we had arrived so I worried for several months afterward expecting a ticket in the mail for speeding in a construction zone. It's something that I try hard not to do but sometimes you get caught going a little too fast as you enter one of these and I was certain that had happened in one particular instance. It's been two years now so I guess they missed me!

[kalynzoo]

Santa Clarita, CA, just up the hill has a load of red light and turn cameras. Los Angeles has been adding them slowly. I have often wondered if my toad would be issued a ticket if the coach made the light but the toad didn't.

In LA tickets are now being issued if the front license plate is missing, or if the front window is tinted, since they can impede the issuing of a ticket.

Fighting the ticket is extremely difficult out here, as the camera is a presumption of guilt, and typically excuses like the drive behind was tailgating cannot be verified.

Real bummer.

[metrocop@aol.com]

Red light cameras? I love 'em. And the excuses are the same as I used to hear before cameras when I was a Motor Cop on CHP and Las Vegas Metro PD. "I couldn't stop cause the guy behind was tailgating". Lame! Lame! "Honest officer, it was yellow when I entered", "I couldn't stop in time cause my vehicle is too heavy"...well, slow down dummy...., or one of my favorites, "The light was orange, officer". Seriously though, red light runners cause more fatal accidents than any other traffic violator. Danger to red light runners comes from all directions too. Cross traffic is usually not a problem unless it's a very stale red. Traffic signal timing delays are timed to allow for even the runner that misses by several feet. At risk however, is the opposing vehicle that is waiting for oncoming traffic to clear before turning left. If you had seen as many dead and seriously injured people, and of course, kids are the worst, as I have in my 32 years on the job, and that were in no way at fault in an intersection accident, you would give thanks for every method of red light enforcement there is, or will be. Personally my vote would go to a very large steel plate that rose up at the very instant the light turns red. And, to address the issue of a citation for not making it through the intersection on the yellow, it just ain't true. I've never heard of any state that has that law. The rule is that if your front wheels are past the first line of the crosswalk or the painted limit line where there is no crosswalk, you have legally entered the intersection no matter if the light turns red before you clear.

Just a rant from an old retired cop.

[k3vinc-pott3r@yahoo.com]

I think these are government money generators. Even the company that installs & maintains these split the 'profits' with the contracted cities & counties.

It's not so funny, even with the cameras & the need for law enforcement surveillance, crime is up in portions of the Santa Clarita area.

Great timing of this question, as one of our local network stations had an investigative report on these cameras:

http://cbs2.com/video/?id=119056@kcbs.dayport.com

I'm not sold that these are a great advance in safety.

[xctraveler]

I would oppose these cameras because of the temptation to the government to shorten the yellow to raise revenue. However at least twice in the past month I have had drivers pull around me and proceed through a red light that I had stopped for. In one case a driver swerved into the right lane and took a left turn in front of me after I had stopped at the red - the yellow was long past, I was in my car not the coach not that that should make any difference. In both instances it is a miracle that there was no traffic in the normally very busy intersections.

paul

[banditrider776@gmail.com]

In LA tickets are now being issued if the front license plate is missing, or if the front window is tinted, since they can impede the issuing of a ticket.

Real bummer.

I think I could beat that one in court, Kansas doesn't require a front license plate. A number of states don't require a front license plate.

[steve@switzland.com]

Taxation without representation, that is all they are. If the cities were not making lots of money off them they would not be there.