Poll of the Day > Do you support red light cameras?

(+) Yeah! (+)

....patroling around red lights, but how do you feel about red light cameras specifically?
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You mean it fines people who goes through a red light? That's a good thing, that's illegal and dangerous.
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Its nice, but I do not think they are legally binding. I remember reading a case where an individual was ticketed by a camera and asked to confront the ticketing party, which was his right, and since a camera can not speak the ticket was removed.

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/effectively-beat-red-light-camera-ticket/
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I support having them solely for accountability purposes, as opposed to actively trying to give more unnecessary tickets. I don't like their ability to give tickets if a red light is run that did not lead to an accident (unless said red light run is particularly egregious, like the other direction already has a green and you still blow through it). However, if an actual police officer observes a situation like that, then yes, give the guy a ticket.

EX1: It's 3AM and I'm at an intersection where the light takes FOREVER to change cycles because the traffic in the other direction (during normal hours of the day) is much heavier. At this point of night, it's desolate. I can see for half a mile in all directions and there isn't a soul around. So I run the light. I've done it before and there's never been an issue. If a red light camera gave me a ticket for that, I would flip shit. BUT, if a cop were to see me doing that, then yeah, I deserve a ticket.

EX2: It's rush hour and I'm on the main highway back home. The speed limit is 55, but there's a light up ahead. It's green, and traffic is going normally (everyone is going ~50-55), but it's a bit clustered. The light changes yellow at a point where I don't want to slam on the brakes because A.) that's obviously never good for your car/tires, and B.) I don't want to get rear-ended and knocked into the intersection. So I end up entering the intersection right as the light turns red, thus technically running a red light. Of course, a camera will not capture the whole situation, in which it was, in all likelihood, safer for me to run the light, rather than slam on my brakes. And it would give you a ticket for that because hey, you ran the red light, even though you and I and any police officer all know that it was totally safe (especially when you include the delay between your light turning red and the other side turning green). I would be out of the intersection at least 2+ seconds before the other way turns green again. This is a situation where a ticket is simply unnecessary.

EX3: It's the middle of the day. Not rush hour, but still a fair amount of normal traffic. Dumbass straight up runs a red light while the other way has the green. While he was lucky and didn't hit anyone or get hit, he obviously still deserves a ticket. This is a situation in which a red light camera should give him a ticket because it holds him accountable. He can't just get away with shit like that and say "well that was lucky!" and not get punished for it.

My thoughts, more or less
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what if you werent the one driving your car?
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AwesomeTurtwig posted...

You mean it fines people who goes through a red light? That's a good thing, that's illegal and dangerous.

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I'm strongly against them. They create more problems than they solve, and most of the time they're just an excuse for shitty local governments to get money on minor offenses (e.g. not stopping at a red light for exactly five seconds before making a right turn, being in the intersection when the light just turned red, etc.).
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thecolorgreen posted...

what if you werent the one driving your car?

It takes a picture of your face.

JanwayDaahl posted...

I'm strongly against them. They create more problems than they solve, and most of the time they're just an excuse for shitty local governments to get money on minor offenses (e.g. not stopping at a red light for exactly five seconds before making a right turn, being in the intersection when the light just turned red, etc.).

Except almost none of them take pictures if you're in a intersection turning unless you go when its illegal to do so. If you're already in the intersection it doesn't take a picture, if you decide you are going to run it, it will.

I'd support them. I'm interested to see how things around here would improve (or don't) at red lights.
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They tried them in my city for a while, then a year later they found out that it was basically a net loss and the local newspaper found proof that the some city officials took bribes from the company that set them up so that they would get the contract. Needless to say they got rid of them pretty quickly after that.
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I can accept cameras at traffic lights. I despise those bus lane cameras.
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Muffinz0rz posted...

I support having them solely for accountability purposes, as opposed to actively trying to give more unnecessary tickets. I don't like their ability to give tickets if a red light is run that did not lead to an accident (unless said red light run is particularly egregious, like the other direction already has a green and you still blow through it). However, if an actual police officer observes a situation like that, then yes, give the guy a ticket.

EX1: It's 3AM and I'm at an intersection where the light takes FOREVER to change cycles because the traffic in the other direction (during normal hours of the day) is much heavier. At this point of night, it's desolate. I can see for half a mile in all directions and there isn't a soul around. So I run the light. I've done it before and there's never been an issue. If a red light camera gave me a ticket for that, I would flip shit. BUT, if a cop were to see me doing that, then yeah, I deserve a ticket.

EX2: It's rush hour and I'm on the main highway back home. The speed limit is 55, but there's a light up ahead. It's green, and traffic is going normally (everyone is going ~50-55), but it's a bit clustered. The light changes yellow at a point where I don't want to slam on the brakes because A.) that's obviously never good for your car/tires, and B.) I don't want to get rear-ended and knocked into the intersection. So I end up entering the intersection right as the light turns red, thus technically running a red light. Of course, a camera will not capture the whole situation, in which it was, in all likelihood, safer for me to run the light, rather than slam on my brakes. And it would give you a ticket for that because hey, you ran the red light, even though you and I and any police officer all know that it was totally safe (especially when you include the delay between your light turning red and the other side turning green). I would be out of the intersection at least 2+ seconds before the other way turns green again. This is a situation where a ticket is simply unnecessary.

EX3: It's the middle of the day. Not rush hour, but still a fair amount of normal traffic. Dumbass straight up runs a red light while the other way has the green. While he was lucky and didn't hit anyone or get hit, he obviously still deserves a ticket. This is a situation in which a red light camera should give him a ticket because it holds him accountable. He can't just get away with shit like that and say "well that was lucky!" and not get punished for it.

My thoughts, more or less

EX1 - so you accept that it deserves a ticket if it is observed by a police officer in attendance, yet don't accept it if the police officer observes it after the fact? Weird logic.

(Also, lights should have weight plates under the road to detect that a car is waiting and smart programming to alter the timings between peak and off peak to completely make this a moot point. Talk to the level of government responsible for local roads and make a suggestion if this is not already the case)

EX2 - Knowing the red light cameras are in place would cause the traffic to be more cautious around lights and ease up knowing that the light could change.

EX3 - Exactly.
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AwesomeTurtwig posted...

You mean it fines people who goes through a red light? That's a good thing, that's illegal and dangerous.

Good thing then that they create red light cameras to "protect people" even though it's actually a money making scheme, and there is rampant corruption in the whole system, including them shortening the length of a yellow light to create more revenue (at the low cost of increasing certain types of accidents). Yeah, they're great.

Lil69Leo posted...

JanwayDaahl posted...

I'm strongly against them. They create more problems than they solve, and most of the time they're just an excuse for shitty local governments to get money on minor offenses (e.g. not stopping at a red light for exactly five seconds before making a right turn, being in the intersection when the light just turned red, etc.).

Except almost none of them take pictures if you're in a intersection turning unless you go when its illegal to do so. If you're already in the intersection it doesn't take a picture, if you decide you are going to run it, it will.

Except you're dead wrong about this. I've known multiple instances where both of the scenarios I mentioned ended up with tickets because they didn't strictly meet the law. The one with the intersection I know was fought in court successfully, but that person still had to go through the headache of taking time out of their day for it.
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sveksii posted...

AwesomeTurtwig posted...

You mean it fines people who goes through a red light? That's a good thing, that's illegal and dangerous.

Good thing then that they create red light cameras to "protect people" even though it's actually a money making scheme, and there is rampant corruption in the whole system, including them shortening the length of a yellow light to create more revenue (at the low cost of increasing certain types of accidents). Yeah, they're great.

This guy gets it.
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There's a lot of them around here but shitty conservative governments love to money-grub so it's kind of par for the course. I don't remember many of them in my hometown.
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They sound good but I don't support them. They had one in my city but they took it away because I guess it sucked.
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