[GoodIntentions]

>get rid of the red light cameras because they increase rear crashes.

A better solution would be enforcing a sane minimum yellow light timing on camera intersections. Shortening the yellow to the point where the normal traffic sometimes brakes hard to avoid entering the now yellow, soon to be red camera intersection is the reason for this increase in rear-ends.

Per the article, this is something Chicago was guilty of, in addition to placing the cameras in areas that had no problematic history of accidents.

The real problem with these things is that they are used as another way to milk money out of the populace, rather than as a way to modify behaviour and improve safety.

These cameras ( and short lights ) are something that really really annoy me as a motorcyclist. I can stop fast any time but the SUV-clad soccer mom texting behind me probably wont. I sometimes find myself dropping a gear and hammering through a yellow I could easily stop for because of this.

/rant

[vinceguidry]

Atlanta had red light cameras for about a year, until enough people complained and they made a mandatory minimum yellow light duration for lights with cameras. By the next year, none of the cameras were operational anymore, the company that was running them said they weren't making enough money off the program so they shut it down.

[Someone]

I would say this is the perfect example of the need for taxation.

The best solution for the people involved shifting money from the people to an entity that installs and maintains those cameras. So, to get there, you need some method for moving money from the people to said entity.

Let's say those cameras decrease property damage/hospital costs/costs of lost time by an amount of X, what is against taxation of the total costs of that are smaller than X?

[teddyh]

> […] this is something Chicago was guilty of […]

I’m guessing this was a problem before red-light cameras:

— What? What did I do?

— You failed to stop at a red signal.

— The light was yellow, sir.

Elwood Blues and Trooper Daniel, Blues Brothers (1980)