Red Light Camera News Sexton: Red-light cameras are a menace
(Thanks to www.stpetecameras.org for the link!)
Sexton: Red-light cameras are a menace
By: Scott Sexton | Winston-Salem Journal
Published: November 01, 2011
The title of the 56-page report sounds serious, ominous and dire. Perhaps even insidious, nefarious and a host of other bad-sounding and un-American things.
Caution: Red Light Cameras Ahead. The Risks of Privatizing Law Enforcement and How to Protect the Public
The report was commissioned and distributed by an outfit called U.S. Public Interest Research Group. Its aim was to take the first nationwide look at the practice of using — you got it — cameras at intersections to record (and ticket) motorists who slip through red lights.
"Too many cities wrongly sign away power to ensure the safety of citizens on the roads when they privatize traffic enforcement," wrote Ryan Pierannunzi of U.S. PIRG in an introduction. "Automated traffic ticketing tends to be governed by contracts that focus more on profits than safety. That shouldn't happen."
No, it shouldn't. And it won't happen here.
Problems cited
In and of itself, the report — or more precisely, the executive summary I thumbed through — makes for interesting reading. You can read the summary at http://www.uspirg.org/trafficcamreport.
About half of the states have allowed close to 700 cities and towns to enter into contracts with private companies to set up cameras to nail scofflaws who scoot through red lights. And an additional 92 go one step further, allowing the companies to enforce speeding laws, too.
Four municipalities in North Carolina — Cary, Knightdale, Raleigh and Wilmington — still have private red-light camera enforcement. Other cities — including Greensboro, Charlotte and High Point — used to but stopped after they started losing on them after a ruling from the N.C. Court of Appeals that stipulated the proceeds go to local school systems.
That and it was mighty hard to prove to a legal certainty who was driving when a particular car blew through a red light. "Well, your honor, I loaned my truck to my cousin, who does look a lot like me …"
One of the biggest problems cited by the report is that the contracts between vendors and cities can limit discretion in the ability to waive citations for such things as "rolling stops" or turning right on a red light.
"Traffic engineering alternatives, such as lengthening yellow lights, are often the best ways to reduce injuries from red-light running," the summary reads. "However, these solutions too often get ignored because contractors and sometimes municipalities are more focused on increasing revenue from tickets."
Ahead of his time
When this particular technological "advance" was first making inroads in North Carolina in the 1990s, the general practice was for any city or town that wanted cameras to have the unanimous support of its state representatives and senators before it could win approval from the full General Assembly.
Greensboro, Raleigh and Wilmington and more than a dozen others got cameras, no problem.
City officials in Winston-Salem wanted them, too, but wound up butting heads with the late Sen. Ham Horton Jr., a Republican from Forsyth County who abhorred the invasive nature of such cameras.
"What'd Ham say about them? That it just 'wasn't sporting?' " said state Sen. Pete Brunstetter, a longtime county commissioner and friend of Horton's who filled his seat after Horton's death in 2006. "Ham was one of a kind."
Yes, he was. His stance on the cameras has spread, too. Their use in North Carolina might be banned entirely next year. The state Senate voted to abolish their use in April, and the House may well follow suit when the General Assembly reconvenes.
When that happens, score it a stick in the eye for Big Brother and a win for Ham. Sometimes we don't need a long report to tell us what makes good, common sense.
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Subscribe to this comment's feedwritten by Henry Bentley , November 02, 2011
Angela what was the speed zone where you got your ticket. On the ticket it would say how long the yellow light was on. That info would be helpful. Also provide us the intersection info. If you could film the yellow light cycle and email it to us and or www.shortyellowlights.com we would appreciate it.
Thanks
Henry
written by Angela Beauregard , November 01, 2011
I live in Hollywood Fl. I have already received and paid a $158.00 red light ticket.
Actually it seems to me the yellow light changes so fast and before you know it you are filmed and have a ticket. Now I find myself with alot of anxiety when approching an intersection .Im always keeping my foot on the break, which can cause more traffic problems for me and the other fellow driver. I think they should ban all cameras in every state.
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