Red Light Camera News Longer Yellow Lights in Milton, FL causes 78% reduction in RLV!
Ban the Cams note: IT IS VERY WELL ESTABLISHED that LONGER AMBERS WORK! In fact over in Arnold, MO earlier this year there was a 86% drop in "VIOLATIONS". http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/35/3596.asp Even Loma Linda (who has taken down the RLC http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/33/3345.asp) experenced a massive drop in "violations" of 92% due TO LONGER AMBERS http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/30/3055.asp
The scamera side keeps trying to play the Amber time as "causing" more accidents. WHAT A BOLD FACE LIE! In Milton a .7 increase in Abmers causeds "violations" (split seconds) to drop from 1,486 Warning tickets (in 35 days) to 326 tickets IN SEPTEMBER!
THIS IS PROOF that the RLV "problem" WAS ENGINEERING RELATED! IN FACT THE POLICE ARE WORRIED ATS WILL LEAVE DUE TO NOT ENOUGH TICKETS!
(FL IT IS TIME TO END THIS FRAUD ON THE PUBLIC! BAN THE RLC SCAM! Or at least LET THE PUBLIC VOTE ON THIS!)
Longer yellow lights are a go on Milton streets
More time before traffic lights turn red gives drivers extra time to come to stop
11:00 PM, Oct. 21, 2011 |
Written by
Thyrie Bland
Milton Police Chief Greg Brand has decided to increase the time it takes for a yellow light to change to red in the city from four seconds to 4.7 seconds. In the extra
0.7 seconds drivers now have at those lights, you also could:
» Press redial on a phone.
» Turn on the shower.
» Press the on button on a remote control.
» Shoot a basketball.
Yellow-light law?
Florida lawmakers are considering a bill that will require local governments to set yellow-light cycles to a uniform time.
House Bill 33 would require a three-second cycle on roads with a 25 mph posted speed limit and an additional 0.5 seconds for each additional 5 mph zone.
An analysis of the bill says several studies have found that increasing yellow light cycles can result in fewer accidents and red-light violations.
One study found that an increase in the light cycle can result in driver indecision and a greater probability of rear-end collisions, according to the analysis.
Milton Police Chief Greg Brand said he believes that if a cycle is too long, drivers will try to guess at whether they can beat the light rather than stopping.
"I think if you have a 51„2 or six-second light in a 45 (mph zone), I don't think it will take long for it not to mean anything," he said.
More
Milton Police Chief Greg Brand may have put his red light camera program in jeopardy in the name of safety.
Brand said he has increased the time it takes for a yellow light to change to red from four seconds to 4.7 seconds at the three intersections where the cameras are located: U.S. 90 at Parkmore Plaza Road and at Glover Lane, and at Dogwood Drive and Hamilton Bridge Road.
He said his effort to give people more time to stop at the intersections has meant a huge drop in red-light violations.
The cameras went on June 15. In the first 35 days of the program, 1,486 warning tickets were given out.
Brand changed the lights' timing on July 20. In August, 365 citations were given; in September, 326 tickets — each with a $158 fine attached — were given. Ticket information for October is not complete.
Brand said he is concerned that American Traffic Solutions — the company that manages the camera system — might pull out of Milton if the number of tickets continues to drop.
"I don't know the exact figure, but I think it's around 310 for the camera company to break even," he said. "Anything at that level, the city doesn't make anything. We are getting pretty close to that."
An American Traffic Solutions spokesman did not return a phone call seeking comment.
Longer light cycles
Local governments set yellow-light cycles based on a standard that the light should stay yellow for three to six seconds.
Brand said he decided to increase the cycles after a resident brought to his attention a study on yellow-light cycles. He said it suggested that a yellow-light cycle in a 45-mph zone be 4.3 seconds and 4.7 seconds in a 50-mph zone.
The chief had the cycle increased to 4.7 seconds at the three intersections where the red-light cameras are located and at three other intersections that are in 45-mph zones.
"A lot of people do one to five miles per hour over the limit," he said. "This will address that and give them time to stop."
In Gulf Breeze, there is a red-light camera on U.S. 98 at Daniel Drive. The camera is in a 35-mph zone.
It takes four seconds for that camera to cycle between yellow and red, Police Chief Peter Paulding said.
"Four ... seconds is very, very generous and completely appropriate for the location and what's going on," he said. (Ban the Cams comment NOT IN A 45 ZONE!, maybe a 30 zone!)
There were 413 red-light violations at that light in August and 449 violations in September.
Motive questioned
Jennifer Johnson, 25, of Milton received a ticket for running the light at U.S. 90 and Parkmore Plaza Road in Milton on Aug. 24.
She said she didn't realize she ran the light until she got a citation in the mail. Johnson admits she was distracted the day she ran the light. She was taking her 5-year-old daughter to get some lab work done after being told the child had a cyst on her kidney.
"I really wasn't paying attention to anything else," she said. "I ran it. There were no ifs, ands or buts about it."
Johnson said she thinks the purpose of the camera system is to line the city's coffers with money.
"If it saves somebody's life, then that's great," she said. "I'm still a firm believer that all intentions behind this are to raise money."
Brand argues that his decision to increase the light cycle proves that critics like Johnson are wrong.
"This is a safety-based program," he said. "For every person who does not run a red light, that is a potential fatal accident that we don't have."
(Ban the Cams comment: OH PLEASE QUIT LYING ON THIS SCAMERA SIDE! YOU DON'T bring up the fact that many of those plus 5 RLV crashes have causes like: DUI, fleeing police, not paying attention, medical/mechanical, weather related. A RLC WILL NEVER STOP THESE. IN fact on this site is a collection of terrrible crashes captured by a RLC that the device FAILED TO STOP!)
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