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from the but-they-do-work-to-raise-ticket-income dept.
Red-light cameras don't reduce the number of traffic accidents or injuries at intersections where the devices are installed, according a new analysis by Case Western Reserve University.
Touted by supporters as a way increase public safety by ticketing drivers who continue through red lights, the cameras actually shift traffic patterns: More drivers tend to brake harder and more abruptly, increasing fender-benders and other so-called "non-angle" collisions.
"Once drivers knew about the cameras, they appeared to accept a higher accident risk from slamming on their brakes at yellow lights to avoid an expensive traffic citation—thereby decreasing safety for themselves and other drivers," said Justin Gallagher, an assistant professor of economics at Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve.
Accidents didn't decrease, only shift.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Snotnose on Friday July 20 2018, @03:38AM (14 children)
No $hit $herlock. It wa$ never about $afety.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday July 20 2018, @03:44AM (4 children)
Yeah? What wa$ it about?
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Friday July 20 2018, @06:37AM (1 child)
Pictures, of course. :-)
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Friday July 20 2018, @03:27PM
cos, you know, PICS OR IT DIDN'T HAPPEN!
:)
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Friday July 20 2018, @05:29PM (1 child)
Liability. No camera should be allowed to issue tickets, but if you're ever hit in an intersection, the camera will show who's at fault.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 20 2018, @07:07PM
In the county where I live, they installed the red light cameras, but banned issuing tickets based on them a few years later. One of my friends was T-boned in an intersection directly in the view of the camera, and the other driver pulled a hit and run. The cops said they couldn't use the camera footage for that.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by bzipitidoo on Friday July 20 2018, @03:53AM (2 children)
Yes, but you still need these studies and facts to use against the bullshitting, propagandizing, lying con artists who are trying to sell fear to the public.
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 20 2018, @04:33AM
Why?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 20 2018, @06:46AM
Bullshit. All you needed was to look at what the politicians were saying as they were being installed. "This will bring in in a lot of new revenue for the city." was something I heard a LOT.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 20 2018, @05:26AM (2 children)
Our local city council installed red light cameras as a pilot for a few months (and only in the poor areas, FWIW). Knowing the old trick of changing the yellow lights, I recorded times before on different days and times and similar days and times after they were installed. What do you know, they shortened the yellows and, in some cases, made the greens just a hair longer. Many of the lights violated the not only the suggestions of the timing manual, but the law as well. At the end of it, they had a meeting about making them permanent. After the Council went on and on about safety being their real concern with people asking questions (no comments allowed), it was my turn to present my questions.
So in one of those monologues of a question, I presented my findings in a chart on an easel, offer DVD of videos as proof, cited the laws and regulations (complete with printed citations and official copies), and safety concerns and statistics and asked, "Given all of that, are each and all of you willing to support a provision in the city code that any lights where red-light cameras are installed should maximized safety by matching the maximum recommendation according to the Manual? Or, at a minimum, require that they must meet the minimum standards for yellow light duration under the law?"
After what was probably a ten-second pause, one of the Council members, looking somewhat perplexed, replied, "But then more people would be able to stop and we wouldn't catch them." The rest of my time going back and forth with them wasn't very productive. I was finally cut off when I accidentally didn't phrase my statement as a question and was quickly ushered away by an attendant for breaking the rules. At least they got booed by those present for doing so.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Friday July 20 2018, @07:57PM (1 child)
LOL, you'd already won by the time they muzzled you on a technicality. Hopefully a few audience members were recording the whole thing. Are there any recordings of it online?
When I was hit with a red light camera ticket from Plano, Texas, I recorded the timings of the traffic signals at the offending intersection (Plano Pkwy at the Dallas North Tollway). Yep, the yellow was too short. It was a 40 mph zone. and there's an informal standard of 1 second per 10 mph of speed limit, and that's seemingly what the city was using. It's not good enough, especially at higher speeds. And then they cheated on their standard. That yellow was only 3.9 seconds long.
I took my evidence to the hearing I requested, and it was of course ignored. I expected as much. What I was really trying to do was make sure the city was not going to make any money off of me with a traffic light scam. I'm sure the hearing cost the city way more than the fine. If only everyone would demand a hearing, the system would overload and collapse. And it would show the politicians that they'd better not push citizens around and try such scams.
Anyway, their scamera program is still the city's pride and joy, and I am still boycotting them.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 20 2018, @11:00PM
I've not be able to find a recording of it. Despite all the meetings being recorded and transcribed for decades, that one is missing from their archive. So are a few others that were contentious for other reasons, like the one where they voted to remove a pedestrian bridge next to the school that went over the interstate, which has a total of 8 lanes and 4 entrance/exit roads at that particular spot, because the kids who walk to school can add a mile and a half to their walk to get to the one bridge with a sidewalk. But all that happened before the IPIB was put in place, so there is nothing that can be done.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday July 20 2018, @02:52PM (2 children)
If shortening yellow lights is about safety, then get the ultimate safety by shortening yellow lights to zero.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 4, Funny) by DannyB on Friday July 20 2018, @02:54PM
Idea for a patent!
Shorten yellow lights to negative.
Your light is green.
Opposing light turns green.
Four seconds later, your green light turns red so that opposing traffic is unhindered.
That would be much safer.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Friday July 20 2018, @07:59PM
Time is money!