"Traffic camera data gives complex picture" while "Red-light camera violations go unpunished"
 |
 16 years
|
Police, Californian analysis tell different tales of collision rates
BY JAMES GELUSO, Californian staff writer
e-mail: jgeluso@bakersfield.com | Saturday, Feb 9 2008 9:35 PM
Do red-light cameras save lives?
Graphics:
It's complicated.
Bakersfield Police Lt. Gary Moore says yes. He looked at before-and-after accident rates for intersections with red-light cameras and found that rear-end accidents increased, while the more dangerous broadside accidents declined.
"The broadsiders are the ones that really hurt people," he said.
But a Californian analysis found a muddier picture.
We found that on the whole, accidents actually increased where there are cameras and decreased where there aren't. But that's looking at two big groups of intersections around the city.
A close look at two intersections on Coffee Road -- one with a camera, one without -- seems to back up Moore's point. There, broadsides declined where there is a camera, and rear-enders declined where there's no camera.
read the rest of the article at http://www.bakersfield.com/102/story/359284.html
While in other news out of California, too: Red-light camera violations go unpunished
Police and O.C. courts rarely follow up on unpaid red light camera tickets. Since 2004, as many as 25,000 red light runners have walked away without penalty.
Thousands of drivers who ignore their red light camera tickets are receiving an unusual giftfrom Orange County courts:
Their cases disappear.
No fine. No points on their driving records.
Meanwhile, the drivers who face up to their mistake and respond to their tickets face a $346 fine, driving school and sometimes, a spike in their insurance rates.
"It's not a real good message to get out there to the public," Superior Court CEO Alan Slater conceded in an interview.
read the rest of the article at http://www.ocregister.com/news/court-police-light-1977074-re...
You'll find this...
You will find this same story in every single city that has deployed these cameras. It is a proven fact that the cameras cause a drastic increase in rear-enders throughout the city. However, officials gloss over these facts with the same reasoning, "Well, the rear-end collisions are typically less severe than the side-impact collisions." It is like the vendors give the officials a playbook with all of the retorts to these questions. You will hear this comment, along with the term "halo effect" to describe the lower number of infractions at intersections that do not have cameras.
To me, a collision is a collision. I can give at least three stories, and have in other threads, of where a rear-end collision resulted in death. But this aside, you have a rear-end collision, you still have injuries (even if they are faking for the insurance), and you still have damage to your car. This results in money spent for medical bills, possible law suits, increase in insurance, and many other factors that result of having an accident.
This really astounds me that city officials claim that the cameras are out for your safety, when it is an indisputable fact that the cameras cause more accidents, and only theoretically save lives. Most fatal side collisions are caused by intoxicated drivers rather than inattentive or careless drivers. The camera will not stop a drunk driver.
And as a final note, to prove this even further, the cameras are not always at the most dangerous of intersections. They are not profitable enough. I will be more than happy to supply examples if need be.
I knew I shoulda made a left turn at Albuquerque! -- Bugs Bunny
I was surprised to hear that
I was surprised to hear that in orange county, ca if you dont pay your red light ticket, they just disappear in the system as they have no police to follow up on all the tickets. There was a whole radio show on it yesterday
Ignore your ticket, go to jail
I was surprised to hear that in orange county, ca if you dont pay your red light ticket, they just disappear in the system as they have no police to follow up on all the tickets.
If that is true, it won't stay that way for very long. They will figure out a way to:
Impound your car during another traffic stop.
OR
Require you to pay the ticket before you can renew your registration or license.
They WILL get you in the end!
Magellan Maestro 4250// MIO C310X
The problem with California
The problem with California is that there are SO MANY UNREGISTERED and UNLICENSED drivers that even if the camera does capture the plate number, in A LOT of cases the plates come back to a former owner. This is a HUGE PROBLEM here and I can tell you that myself and others are paying dearly for this with higher insurance rates.
My friend was involved in an accident recently and when she got out to get the responsible parties information, he took off in the crashed car and when the police did find the car it had never been re-registered. I won't go into details as to whom the responsible parties are but we all know.
Your Portion Of Light Whether you are a brilliant flame or but a tiny spark matters not-for the world needs whatever portion of light is yours to give.