

Shorter yellow lights boost red-light camera revenue - cwan
http://m.news.com/2166-12_3-10458570-71.html

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lutorm
The minimum yellow light duration is regulated to 3s by the Federal Manual of
Uniform Traffic Control Devices.

In CA, the timing is additionally required to be no shorter than the Caltrans
Traffic Manual, which sets a higher minimum time depending on the speed of the
road.

If you get a ticket and the yellow is shorter than that, you have a very good
case for getting it thrown out.

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TrevorJ
I would go further and state that this seems like it could be borderline
criminal negligence due to the inherent safety issues.

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splat
_"The annals of capitalism are full of ingenious money-making ruses. ... There
may, however, now be a new capitalist champion of gall. According to AlterNet,
some of the more enterprising and caring cities of the United States have used
their almost limitless brains to increase the revenues they accrue from red-
light cameras."_

For what definition of "capitalism" does the above quotation make sense?

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jrmurad
Maybe if "incorporated" cities are thought of (private) corporations rather
than as government. That's my best stretch. I suspect, however, that the
actual explanation is that capitalist is a synonym for bad/evil on AlterNet.

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KaiP
Great example of a terrible incentive structure. Obviously, no city should
rely on tickets for revenue, but I imagine it is more politically viable to
increase ticket revenue than property tax revenue.

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philwelch
Traffic laws and enforcement can be designed for:

-1. Safety

-2. Revenue collection

Pick one of two. I think most American authorities picked the wrong one,
personally.

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whyenot
_Pick one of two_

Why? Couldn't you have 2/3 of one and 1/3 of the other? For instance,
enforcing speed limits on a busy road near an elementary school? Not only do
you get to write a lot of tickets, but you also slow down traffic, making it
safer for pedestrians.

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Semiapies
Optimizing for revenue collection is designing the rules to be _easily
broken_. This does not enhance safety.

If you want to bust a lot of speeders by a school, you must first have a lot
of people _speeding_ by a school. The best way to do this is to have a nice,
straight, uncontrolled road that's clearly safe to drive at a faster speed
than posted. That will encourage speeding and thus ticket revenue when you set
up a speed trap.

If you are more concerned about the safety of children crossing the road, you
will do things to discourage people from actually _driving fast_. You'd make
the road curvy, make T-intersections 3-way stops, put in speed bumps, add
crossing guards, or use whatever combination of a variety of techniques makes
sense for that road in order to make drivers go slower.

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jwecker
I remember in Manila (Philippines) there was a light at an intersection that
turned red in probably half the time any other light did. What's more,
crossing the intersection required crossing 6+ lanes of traffic, so frequently
you could enter the intersection with a green light but still end up
traversing it mostly when the light was red. There was a gaggle of 10 or so
cops standing at the other side at all times, issuing tickets. If you gave
them a disapproving look though sometimes they'd just wave you through anyway,
looking a little embarrassed at their scheme.

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oomkiller
This is just crooked. They increase the risk of driving fatalities, just to
increase revenue. All because they are scared to increase taxes because it's
not politically convenient!

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jasonlotito
I might be wrong, but I'm pretty sure there are laws in place (at least in
some states) that provide a minimum time for a light to shine yellow before
going to red. Basically, if the stop light has a yellow light that is short of
the minimum, you can fight a ticket for running a red right. Not sure on the
particulars here, but just something to consider.

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Semiapies
Most people don't assume that this sort of thing _could_ be against a law,
since it's a government doing it to them; they just glower and pay the
tickets.

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bgray
Surprise, surprise...

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rit
Stay tuned for our compelling report:

Water ... Wet, or dry?

