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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: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 20 2018, @04:06AM (2 children)
Has anyone ever brought this up at a city council meeting, or are people content with posting on the internet and slacktivism?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by AthanasiusKircher on Friday July 20 2018, @04:51AM (1 child)
Have you actually been to a city council meeting? I have. Have you ever had a sincere discussion with someone in local government about budgetary stuff?
Last time I did, it was with a councilman who admitted that over 35% of the city revenue came from street sweeping fines alone. He basically admitted they didn't care about the cleanliness of the streets (the context was that I was complaining about the fact that despite the multitude of tickets I saw on cars every week, in my neighborhood one year, the street sweepers NEVER came by during the designated time window... Not once -- they always came later in the day when the fines were not enforced... And surprise! the streets were still relatively clean) -- and they designed an arcane schedule deliberately to suck up the most fines from people who would forget to move their cars.
That's the sort of decision made in local government. Red light cameras are a similar money-making endeavor, having nothing to do with public safety. Sure, bring it up at your town council, but if the city is making money, be prepared to offer another method to raise that revenue... And no, nobody's going to want to raise taxes instead.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday July 20 2018, @03:04PM
Whether a local government raises taxes or comes up with other innovative ways to raise revenue, it ultimately comes out of your pocket but is just more obscured.
The advantage of taxes is that you KNOW how much you are paying for what benefits you see (or don't see) from the local government.
Other ways of paying ultimately come out of your pocket, but not in ways easily measurable. For example, artificially creating more auto accidents at intersections is something that comes out of YOUR pocket. Insurance is not just some magical pool of money in the sky. Then we complain about various societal problems obscured by the schemes we used to raise government revenue instead of just directly paying fair taxes.
We need to have enough government to do its job, but we should keep the size of it under control as long as it is still able to do its job. We need roads, bridges, street lights, clean water, breathable air, etc.
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