‘DSCF6337’
courtesy of ‘lakelandlocal’
Alexandria has powered up their revenue-generating red-light cameras along Route 1, as well as on Duke Street in an attempt to make us all “safer”. While this is probably less expensive than parking a police officer on the corner with a ticket pad, that certainly seems like something that would chasten people for running the light rather than just treating it as an “expensable” behavior like going over your cellphone minutes.
I live and work in the District of Columbia. I write at We Love DC, a blog I helped start, I work at Technolutionary, a company I helped start, and I’m happy doing both. I enjoy watching baseball, cooking, and gardening. I grow a mean pepper, keep a clean scorebook, and wash the dishes when I’m done. Read Why I Love DC.
now everyone is going to be driving miss daisy
Grow a brain. Running red lights is not a civil liberty. Its illegal because it puts pedestrians, other drivers, their passengers and you at risk. Fines and cameras work.
Who said anything about civil liberties? Cameras are only effective at 2 things: causing accidents and enticing municipalities to illegally shorten yellow lights in hopes of increasing ticket revenue. I agree that red light running is a pretty appalling display of disregard for other human beings, but cameras just shift the problem elsewhere.
If by “shifting the problem elsewhere” you mean it penalizes people who view penalties for running red lights oppressive then you are correct.
Stupid government and its constant attempts to make us “safer.” This injustice must not stand.
Cameras don’t actually correct the bad behavior, they just cost you money.
Yes of course, who worries about paying money or getting a ticket when they see a stoplight turn yellow?
Fines are a joke. Just ask all those jackals who speed down the HOV lanes alone every day before double parking in a fire zone.
Much better to leave enforcement of this to police officers who can hand out tickets to those lucky enough to get caught when they have plenty of more serious work to do. That will surely be more effective than cameras that catch every single person who runs a light 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Honestly, why are the fines $50 if they actually want to make them hurt?
Seriously, redlight camera fines are significantly less than their ticketed equivalent, and most of the fine goes to the camera company anyhow. How does this make us safer, again?
Cameras make you safer by reducing the number of injuries in crashes at stoplights.
From Aeron-Thomas AS, Hess S. Red-light cameras for the prevention of road traffic crashes. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
2005, Issue 2:
(http://mrw.interscience.wiley.com/cochrane/clsysrev/articles/CD003862/frame.html)
“Authors’ conclusions
Red-light cameras are effective in reducing total casualty crashes. The evidence is less conclusive on total collisions, specific casualty
collision types and violations, where reductions achieved could be explained by the play of chance. Most evaluations did not adjust for
RTM or spillover, affecting their accuracy. Larger and better controlled studies are needed.
’Red-light cameras’ cut casualty crashes at junctions with traffic lights
Road crashes are a leading cause of death and injury. One common place for these to happen is at junctions (intersections) controlled by
traffic signals. ’Red-light cameras’ are now widely used to identify drivers that jump (’run’) red lights, who can then be prosecuted. This
review looked for studies of their effectiveness in reducing the number of times that drivers drive through red lights and the number
of crashes. Very little research has been done and much of it has not allowed for the statistical problems that occur when recording
this kind of information. However, five studies in Australia, Singapore and the USA all found that use of red-light cameras cut the
number of crashes in which there were injuries. In the best conducted of these studies, the reduction was nearly 30%. More research is
needed to determine best practice for red-light camera programmes, including how camera sites are selected, signing policies, publicity
programmes and penalties.”
From the World Health Organization World report on traffic injury prevention 2008:
(amro.who.int/English/DD/PUB/Summary_World_report_Road_safety.pd)
“Reducing the risk of junction crashes
Junction crashes are a leading source of road traffic injury. […] A highly cost-effective measure is to install cameras that take photographs of vehicles going through traffic lights when signals are red. In Australia, installing red-light cameras reduced the total number of road crashes by 7% and 32% at treated sites (223). In Oxnard, California, install-
ing red-light cameras yielded a 29% reduction in
crashes with injury and a 68% reduction in front-
into-side crashes with injury at treated sites (224).”