I live in a small town outside of Houston. In fact I spend alot of time in very small towns near the Texas coast. I have noticed this past year that there is a big push to put traffic cams at most every intersection in each of these towns. Even on rarely travelled roads. I mean literally there are cameras being installed at intersections that get just a few cars daily going through. I have been noticing it for that reason. And there can't be but a handful of red light violations in these towns. I have to say travelling around I notice this is happening all around. I saw it in Houston, but it seems really creepy to me that all of the sudden over the last 12-18 months these small towns felt like they had all this money to spend on installing cameras at intersections that see as many cows as cars. And the local municiple governments are always complaining about a lack of money to fix roads and make city improvements. I just find it really strange. Does anyone have any information on this without me going to each little city and asking. It's not that important to me, but I really don't like things that seem like surveillance. I thought about posting this in the hangout, but thought probably somebody knows about some plot to monitor our every move. Seriously, does anyone know why this has become such a big priority in small towns. We already have great speed traps. I am quite sure the revenue for catching people running red lights at the intersections I am talking about would take about 1000 years to pay for these cams.
And please.. spare the BIG conspiracy stuff Really, it is perplexing to me; because I notice them going up more and more where I live and in odd locations. I really want to know; is there some plan to have cameras at every stinking intersection in the US?
Not where I live. and again I know there is no big 'c' I googled it just now and read that civil liberty groups have been fighting this for about 20 years. I saw it in Houston and never gave it a thought. But the places I am talking about get a truck hauling hay every 4 hours.
I'd still say it is for revenue. Even if a particular intersection is not very profitable, it only has to pay for the cost of putting the camera itself. I imagine this system has some large capital and fixed expenses for the system to record and collate and review for violations, send bills, etc, etc. Adding one more camera to an existing system is probably not expensive. For a small town to use the system at all, they probably need enough coverage to pay the big central costs. If a lonely intersection can pay for it's own camera (and I imagine that takes only a couple of violators), then every dollar after that is gravy.
The big deal is - it's a huge return on investment. The technology costs for installing the cameras is very, very low. The cameras pay for themselves almost instantly. And then they just bring money in indefinitely. I hate 'em. Big brother is watching you. War is Peace; Freedom is Slavery; Ignorance is Strength.
1. It is Surveillence - never know when some escaped convict will be hiding in the back roads 2. Revenue -Beyond just the cost of getting the ticket .. . it frees up the Police from policing these stops - Instead of Sheriff sitting there .. he can do other things Rocket River
Thanks for the input Actually my wife first brought it to my attention, in 29 years we couldn't remember anyone running a red light where we live. Just not enough traffic. But I guess if anyone ever does, we'll nab them.
Probably a security measure to make people feel 'safer' while eliminating people's personal freedoms and generating revenue at the same time. It's perfect for big government!
