Interesting. Senator Tim Neville is asking people to sign a petition urging lawmakers to pass a bill to stop the use of red light cameras in Colorado.
I'm not saying that I'm against this, but I dislike their reasoning. "Violation of personal privacy & liberty"? Give me a break. "Photo radar devices and their ilk are used primarily to generate millions of dollars of revenue throughout the country" - so are the Morrison cops' use of radar, but they aren't going to be stopped anytime soon. Show me that red light cameras are ineffective at reducing incidents of running red lights (as I'm highly skeptical of the claim that one study shows an increase in accidents due to red light cameras). Give me data and you convince an Independent that you're doing something to make our laws more common-sense and effective; otherwise all I see if you pandering to your partisan constituency.
"Now, more than ever, the illusions of division threaten our very existence. We all know the truth: more connects us than separates us. But in times of crisis the wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers. We must find a way to look after one another as if we were one single tribe.” -King T'Challa, Black Panther
The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it. ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is. ~Winston Churchill
I too was suspicious of them creating more accidents until I thought about it some more.
Just imagine that you, I and many other people find a red light cam set up on our rout that we take to work each day. Speaking for myself anyway, I would now have to change my approach to that intersection. I would be more inclined to speed up in order to get to and through the light before it turned yellow and I would also have to be prepared to stop faster as not to go through it if it did turn yellow before I got completely to it. Booth of them changes in my daily driving habit would cause more possibilities of an accident to happen.
Last edit: 20 Mar 2015 07:17 by Freezeman. Reason: spelling
I dislike that red light cameras don't allow for common sense. If you roll up to the white line at the intersection, Flash busted. You didn't run a red light, you just didn't stop at the proper mark.
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
I don't have a problem with red light cameras because I've lived in the metro area long enough to realize how crappy the drivers are. It took one ticket for me to get the point and stop when/where I should. I also have two kids driving with a third coming close, so if it helps people to do the right thing and be safer, so be it.
The left is angry because they are now being judged by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin.
I disagree Rick. The whole idea of being remotely convicted strikes a chord with me. I know that I have let off the gas and started braking when a light turned yellow only to see that the car behind me is going to do some unauthorized body work on my car if I actually stop and have then gotten into the throttle and ended up running a red light. Should I be punished for that? If it's an actual cop sitting at the intersection they have the ability to discern the situation, an ability that a remote camera does not possess. If it's that dangerous of an intersection then it should have an officer there to diminish the danger and enforce the law.
As far as the sensors being set at the solid white stripe, that is something else I disagree with. I know that I have experienced situations where the light turns yellow and I determine I don't have time to clear the intersection before it turns red and braked but still ended up with the nose of the car past that solid white line.
If the red light cameras are going to be kept, I think that they should have to have additional notice to drivers that they exist at the intersection. And not just some unobtrusive signage that no one is likely to see, but actual visual notification for the drivers like 5 seconds of a flashing green and a flashing yellow followed by 3 seconds of a flashing yellow and flashing red that is standard at every intersection that has a camera monitoring it or a visual countdown so that approaching drivers know just how long it will be before the light turns red. I happen to think that every intersection ought to already have such features as they are truly ones that seek to improve information available to the driver and improve the safety at intersections.
