Red light cameras. Yeah, I saw the look of disgust wash across your face. Red light cameras are supposed to automatically ticket drivers who run red lights. The driver runs the red, the camera takes a picture of the offending vehicle, and the owner of said offending vehicle gets a ticket mailed to them. What is wrong with that? Traffic laws are supposed to keep us safe right? I’m not so sure. Why does it seem like instead of keeping us safe, they are just exploiting a loophole allowing them to collect more revenue for minor traffic offenses that don’t actually affect safety? Let’s be honest, there is a big difference between blowing through a red light while oncoming traffic is going and sneaking through an intersection just as the light turns red. Hey, we’ve all done that. In certain areas, “two after red” is an unwritten rule. Not to mention those times when you are stuck behind complete morons who aren’t paying attention, feel the need to drive through an intersection at 2mph, or want to make sure there is adequate space for a herd of elephants to pass between them and the car in front of them. Those are the times you feel entitled to go through that light even if it has just turned red. You would have made it if the people in front of you weren’t such dimwits.
More than just penalizing people for something minor, I feel like red light cameras make intersections more unsafe. Now instead of leisurely deciding whether or not you can make that yellow light, people are slamming on their breaks when they see yellow. You tell me what sounds safer: an extra car trickling through the intersection before cars start moving in the other direction, or a whole bunch of people slamming on their breaks when a light turns yellow? Which scenario is going to cause more accidents?
So if the red light cameras aren’t making the roads safer, what is their purpose? Well, some of the money they collect in the form of tickets goes to the town or city those cameras are in. In this sense the cameras provide some extra revenue for that town or city. But some red light cameras are actually run by private companies. Private companies making money off of traffic violations? Does that seem right?
The worst part of the system is that some intersections have actually been set up to make you fail. In certain cases, the duration of the yellow light was shortened so that more people would end up getting caught in the intersection when the light turned red. The whole point of a yellow light is to give you a heads-up. If you are approaching an intersection, the light turns yellow, and you can safely stop – you should stop. If not, you should go through. That’s a judgment call individuals have to make for themselves. Police should ticket people when they clearly abuse this system, but there is no need to get nitpicky.
The use of red-light cameras is illegal. Police officers may still ticket individuals for running red lights if such transgressions are personally witnessed by the officer.
If towns and cities have problem intersections they should consider lengthening the duration of the yellow lights for that intersection. How long a light should be yellow is not an exact science. Maybe given the speed limit, the size of the intersection, and the ease of making left turns, you are simply not giving people enough time. How about trying to solve a problem through positive change instead of punishment?
As always I remain your all-powerful and benevolent Queen of the World,
Marisa
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