Protest Letters Red-light cameras don’t improve safety; they increase dangers
http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/cleveland/opinion/article_f6343927-2c69-50f5-bd53-15fe8d4be21a.html
Red-light cameras don’t improve safety; they increase dangers
Posted: Sunday, June 5, 2011 1:02 pm | Updated: 1:22 pm, Sun Jun 5, 2011.
Letters to the editor
Red-light cameras don’t improve safety; they increase dangers
Dear editor,
In my efforts to bring awareness of the dangers and corruption of red light cameras in Texas, I have found no shortage of politicians who rush to defend the program.
It came as no surprise to me to see an opinion piece by [former Cleveland] Councilman [Glen] Dodson wanting to correct “misconceptions” about the program while using several misconceptions of his own or outright ignoring basic facts to further his desire to keep the red-light camera revenue rolling in for Cleveland.
At least he was honest in saying that the city needs money and the cameras bring in that needed revenue.
Here are the undeniable facts about ticket cameras:
Ticket cameras are against public sentiment. Over the more than 20 years of photo enforcement, there hasn’t been one single public vote anywhere in the country that approved ticket cameras.
Every single time, in every single town that has been allowed to vote on the future of ticket cameras, the cameras have been voted out. The most recent examples were last November in Houston and Baytown. Despite millions of dollars being spent by the camera company to block and sway our vote the cameras were defeated by a wide margin.
The largest independent studies confirm ticket cameras are associated with an increase in accidents not a reduction. A US DOT [Department of Transportation] funded study at North Carolina Urban Transit Institute is the largest camera study ever done. Their conclusion was, “The results do not support the view that red-light cameras reduce crashes. Instead, we find that RLCs are associated with higher levels of many types and severity categories of crashes.”
Locally Baytown saw an increase of 40 percent in total accidents, 75 percent increase in injury accidents and an 83 percent increase in rear end accidents.
Houston and League City also saw increases in accidents after cameras were installed. In Cleveland, there were more accidents at Loop 573 at Hwy. 105 in just the first 30 days of camera activation than in the entire 18 months before the cameras went up, according to the only official red-light camera crash data, which can be found on TXDOT’s website.
I have no idea how Mr Dodson can claim that cameras reduce accidents when the only evidence we can point to in his city clearly indicates otherwise.
Mr. Dodson is also wrong about the yellow change interval timing. The ITE formula is based primarily on the approach speed, not the number of vehicles travelling through the intersection.
State law mandates a minimum yellow change interval for camera locations. Based on the state required minimum, three camera approaches have illegally short yellow lights.
Every citation issued under an illegally short yellow light is unenforceable and refunds should be issued like League City did for over 1,700 innocent drivers.
Short yellow lights increase the number of camera tickets but also increase the number of accidents. If the city were truly concerned with safety, they would extend the yellow light timing, not profit from making the streets less safe.
Mr. Dodson draws a false comparison between camera tickets and an officer-initiated red-light running ticket. A camera ticket is a civil violation, a ticket written by an officer is a criminal offense.
Lowering the penalty for a crime as serious as red-light running doesn’t increase safety. It lets criminal red-light runners ignore their citations as there is no real penalty if they do not pay.
No arrest warrant, it won’t go on their license or credit and their vehicle cannot be impounded. All of which can only happen when an officer catches a red light runner.
To suggest that a camera is just as good as a cop insults our police community and the intelligence of the driving public. Red-light runners should face the fullest penalty of law not a letter in the mail weeks later asking for $75, which they can just throw away and ignore.
I urge the council and city attorney to investigate the clear violations of Texas law with regards to the yellow change interval and quickly work to issue refunds to those that were illegally ticketed by Cleveland’s camera program.
I also urge them to correct the timing immediately before the increase in accidents continue. Any citizen that wishes to initiate a public vote through a petition in Cleveland can contact me for help at www.saferbaytown.com.
Byron Schirmbeck
Baytown, Texas
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