Ticket's in the mail: Red-light cameras questioned

A countdown is not needed. Green means go. Red means stop. Yellow means slow down, not "speed up because the light is about to turn red". If you can safely stop for a yellow light, then you need to stop.

I do agree setting the min. time period for a yellow light just to generate tickets is a poor move. 3 seconds is too short.

 

I really didn't care too much either way....

until I got a ticket for not stopping before I turned right at a red light.

You know that feeling when that light is turning red and you want to beat the traffic coming from the left side at a feeder? So I did one of those half second stops and continued to turn right to avoid traffic and that car from behind me from getting too close.... but at any rate, it was easier to pay the $75 than to argue....

 

You're right. We should have cameras everywhere recording our every moves. If we don't do anything illegal it shouldn't matter, right?! When should they come by to install a camera in your bedroom and facing your computer. If you're not breaking the law, you shouldn't have to worry right?

His argument isn't that it should be OK to break the law. His argument is that it's completely insane to have cameras recording our every moves because someone might break the law somewhere. If you support red light cameras, where do you draw the line?

 

Well when the time comes, you can ask that ToyCen guy the correct method for using tinfoil to block the government's signal from the reverse-alien-engineered implants in your forehead.

 

red light cameras are pretty trivial, they are nothing close to having cameras in your house. The cameras are not meant to spy on your personal life, they are checking to see if a car went through a red light or not. It's pretty simple stuff. I have no problem with the government monitoring simple things like that. If you have a problem with red light cameras, do you have problems with security cameras of any kind? It gas stations? in banks? In museums?

 

Great logic! Except those cameras are installed by the private owners of the business.

Where is the fine line? Cameras on all the public street corners?

 

again, they are not monitoring your personal behaviors, they are looking at your license plate to see if you went through a red light. It is not infringing on your personal freedoms or your privacy, it is monitoring safety to ensure the safety of others (i'm not gonna argue whether or not it works, but that is the reasoning behind it). And the government most certainly is allowed to regulate your "freedom" as long as it is infringing on someone elses.

 

It's not about safety, and it's never been about safety. It's always been about generating revenue. Every aspect of the bureaucracy attached to traffic fines is created in a manner that will generate extra revenue.

Bureaucracies love nothing more than getting more power to take your money.

 

How do you feel about traffic cameras along major highways that help monitor the flow of traffic and provide a lot of good information to commuters?

 

I would never do this but I want to hear about someone who hates red light cameras go after several of them with a baseball bat.

That continues to be my dream.

 

i'm a defensive driver. i've come to realize that there are more than a handful of idiots on the road. i'm not perfect either but i've avoided accidents b/c i could tell that the driver wasn't going to do what he was supposed to. just the fact that i'm cognizant of the red light camera makes me nervous about passing it even when it seems it will stay green for me. when the lights been green awhile and i'm at a constant speed i have to think, "hmm, will it turn before i get there? should i slow down now? damn freaking camera." oh yea, the hundreds of people who pass it everyday are also thinking the same thing! AND it still doesn't prevent people from running red lights.

actually, it's got alot more to do with the yellow light. once i see it, i feel like i have to treat it as a red b/c it's so short. that's where alot of the indecision comes from.

 

Do you watch the cross walk sign on the cross street as you are driving? If it is still in the "walk" mode then you can safely not worry about an imminent switch to yellow. If it is flashing then your light will be changing to yellow shortly. In my experience the "don't walk" light flashes 10 times before the through light changes to yellow.

 

I agree that intersection cameras are not so much about intrusion of one's right of privacy, and I think you are correct that government can intrude your privacy if it has a competing interest that is important.

I wonder if people can vote red light cameras out of their cities? Looks like we have more people in this thread against them.

 

Yeah, pedestrian light is a hint, but not all intersections with red light cameras have that.
As I said, why not just put a timer alongside the lights for warning. A few intersections with red light cameras have timer like that where I live. I think they are very helpful. A lot of us been saying that we don't like red light camera not because we are bad drivers, but because we are good drivers.

 

Not every city installs video cameras and make videos available online.

Also, we just don't like strict liability that is enforced by a machine even if there might be clear evidence.

 

If the commuters remain completely anonymous, I think they are good. Im not in favor of anything that automatically scans for violations and/or provides a chance of abuse on private matters. You can use the rhetoric "don't speed/run red lights and you won't have anything to worry about". You can use the same exact line in communications tapping.

 

You guys keep discussing the running red lights thing but the articles posted are mainly about the cameras catching people not coming to a complete stop before turning right on red. Seriously is that as big a problem as people actually running the red lights? I just got my camera-ticket for not coming to a complete stop before turning right on red and fo sho, if a rule/law is in place then it is what it is but to me that seems a bit petty.
I have no problem with the cameras catching me or anyother idiot that decides to run a red light but if you're getting tickets for not coming to a complete stop at a red light while you're in a right turn only lane and there's just about no other cars on the road then I got a problem with that.

Nonetheless i guess I'll be ponying up my dough and sending it to the Coppell Camera/Ticket partner in Cleveland Ohio. Awesome.

 

we don't criticize the cameras for catching r****ds who run red lights, we criticize them because they'll cause rightfully paranoid people to slam on their brakes when they see Yellow, resulting in someone rearending them and hence ending up with a broken neck and paralysis for the rest of their lives..

why can't people think??

 

i got my first red light ticket in Beverly Hills, a whopping $380 ticket that sure enough comes from a company in Arizona.

my situation is that as I was approaching the intersection at Yellow, there was a car in oncoming traffic waiting to turn left (Many many drivers in LA seem to run red lights if they are turning left)

as we approached each other, neither of us wanted to go for it because we didn't want to get in an accident. By the time the light was red, both of us had to run through the intersection, lights flashing from every corner capturing both of our license plates.

the only defense I have, which goes along the line of thinking in this thread, is that I was trying to avoid an accident and had to make split decisions with lights flashing at me and another vehicle possibly about to cut me off...

they might give me community service without having to pay the fine, I would have to plead guilty. there is no way I can say it was not me as the driver based on the sweet mugshot they got of me in the intersection.

sucks.