RED LIGHT CAMERAS YOUR OPINION

[cabman701]

I know I'm getting a bit off subject, but these camera's are starting to grow leaps and bounds.

They now have camera's that can be mounted on a school bus to catch people running school bus stop arms: http://www.atsol.com/solutions/school-bus-safety/

And in my state of Illinois, they are now starting to put camera's in construction zones to catch speeders. I believe there is also talk about putting them in school zones as well.

[TrainmanKight]

I know I'm getting a bit off subject, but these camera's are starting to grow leaps and bounds.

They now have camera's that can be mounted on a school bus to catch people running school bus stop arms: http://www.atsol.com/solutions/school-bus-safety/

And in my state of Illinois, they are now starting to put camera's in construction zones to catch speeders. I believe there is also talk about putting them in school zones as well.

I'm glad there putting them on school buses, people don't give a shit about a stopped school bus anymore.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8gpHU2esmg

Gatso used to do the speed vans for the construction zones in Illinois
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RZEQ_mSpmQ
I'm opening up to speed enforcement in construction and school zones, although I believe some strict guidelines must be followed.

[AndyWS]

My problem with red light cameras is, you don't know where they draw the line. If red light cameras were to be installed around here, I would expect a lot of case of people slamming on their brakes when the light turns yellow in front of them to avoid a ticket, and either getting rear ended or coming to a stop partway out in the intersection. That could be avoided if they were set to not take effect unless the light was actually red when the car entered the intersection, and the public was educated on that fact.

[TrainmanKight]

That could be avoided if they were set to not take effect unless the light was actually red when the car entered the intersection, and the public was educated on that fact.

Many people don't understand how red light cameras work and unfortunately some city shorten yellow lights for profit, it varies from state to state
But where I'm from heres how cameras work.

Light turns red, two sensors in the road http://goo.gl/maps/rmYxl prior to the stop line become active.
Any vehicle that crosses the sensors at a certain speed trigger the camera to flash and take a picture of the vehicle BEFORE the stop line, this is to prove the light is red before you enter the intersection. If you continue through the intersection usually 1-2 seconds later the camera will take another picture to prove you completely violated the signal. If you don't continue through the intersection a ticket will not follow.(unless your in Chicago IL and Denver Co) Also with most camera company's a video is recording 24/7.

Now with ATS cameras the sensors are set for each lane and the camera is rated at 4FPS (frames per second) leaving them one of a few company's that can nab side by side and multiple violations.
Here is a great clip showing what I just explained

As you can see the vehicle in the center lane approached to fast and triggered the camera causing it to flash but stopped they WILL NOT get a ticket, however the car in the right lane will receive a notice of violation.

Here is an example of the pictures ATS takes.

sample-violation-photos3.jpg (167.22 KiB) Viewed 9531 times

Heres what I talked about earlier the ATS cameras have a high mega pixel rate that all they do is crop the image of the plate of the violating vehicle.

plate-sample3.jpg (15.56 KiB) Viewed 9531 times

Other camera company's that use a secondary camera to nab a plate might make mistake and get a vehicle positioned like the white car is in those photos.

[cabman701]

Here is a great clip showing what I just explained

As you can see the vehicle in the center lane approached to fast and triggered the camera causing it to flash but stopped they WILL NOT get a ticket, however the car in the right lane will receive a notice of violation.

The car that ran the light should get 2 tickets. The other ticket should be for following too closely. He swerved into the other lane to avoid the car in the left lane (notice no brake lights or nothing)... then ran the red light to boot!

[TrainmanKight]

Here is a great clip showing what I just explained

As you can see the vehicle in the center lane approached to fast and triggered the camera causing it to flash but stopped they WILL NOT get a ticket, however the car in the right lane will receive a notice of violation.

The car that ran the light should get 2 tickets. The other ticket should be for following too closely. He swerved into the other lane to avoid the car in the left lane (notice no brake lights or nothing)... then ran the red light to boot!

Here are three more clips from the same intersection.

[weatherdan882002]

I voted "don't care". If there's a lot of red light runners in the area, then they should be installed. IDK of any interesctions in NYS that have them though (of course, we're all about roundabouts now). According to Wikipedia, the average yellow light lasts for 4 or 5 seconds, but here in NYS, just about all of them last for only 3, so if you're on a high-speed road (speed limit 55, upon which most people will do 65) and you're close to an intersection that suddenly starts to turn red, you're either forced to slam hard on your brakes or go through it (this intersections is a good example). This intersection meanwhile, has a problem with people turning left BEFORE the light is GREEN. in the morning, there's a constant stream of traffic coming from the opposite direction and the light doesn't stay green very long if there's another car waiting at the side road, so in an effort to skip waiting in traffic, some people will turn left as the side road turns red but before the main road turns green (there's a 2-second delayed green at this intersection). What would be safer and probably eliminate the problem would be to have a left-turn passive arrow installed and have it active only in the morning (it's not an issue for the evening commute) when the light first turns green.

Crazy stuff, haha.

[TrainmanKight]

I voted "don't care". If there's a lot of red light runners in the area, then they should be installed. IDK of any interesctions in NYS that have them though (of course, we're all about roundabouts now). According to Wikipedia, the average yellow light lasts for 4 or 5 seconds, but here in NYS, just about all of them last for only 3, so if you're on a high-speed road (speed limit 55, upon which most people will do 65) and you're close to an intersection that suddenly starts to turn red, you're either forced to slam hard on your brakes or go through it (this intersections is a good example). This intersection meanwhile, has a problem with people turning left BEFORE the light is GREEN. in the morning, there's a constant stream of traffic coming from the opposite direction and the light doesn't stay green very long if there's another car waiting at the side road, so in an effort to skip waiting in traffic, some people will turn left as the side road turns red but before the main road turns green (there's a 2-second delayed green at this intersection). What would be safer and probably eliminate the problem would be to have a left-turn passive arrow installed and have it active only in the morning (it's not an issue for the evening commute) when the light first turns green.

Crazy stuff, haha.

http://www.nassaucountyny.gov/agencies/TPVA/rlc.html

http://www.cityofrochester.gov/redlight/

http://suffolkcountyny.gov/redlight/faq.html

[TheSignalMan2000]

For the 2nd time, I'm going to bumb this topic


Anyway, you know what I normally do with red light cameras intersections especially when I'm going for crossings, I would normally take side/residential streets to avoid them, mostly in side/residential streets, the intersections are stop signs and traffic lights with traffic conditions too low for a camera.

[TrainmanKight]

For the 2nd time, I'm going to bumb this topic
traffic lights with traffic conditions too low for a camera.

Doesn't matter traffic volume just matters the likelyhood of a wreck, the cameras are their to make money and create a force multiplier for the police in the act to scare people into driving safer by obeying the law.
I'd rather have speed cameras in residential areas and school zones, where speeding cars could seriously hurt someone.
Have you ever lost a friend in a traffic crash, have you ever witnessed a pedestrian being struck?