Red Light Camera
Thu, 07/11/2013 - 12:30pm
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11 years
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I live in New York City and most of the red light camera intersections I encounter have only 1 camera pointed at a slight angle toward the intersection in question.
Does this 1 camera able to take photos of cars speeding past a red light in all four directions?
Since NYC requires you to have a license plate in the front and back of the car, I would think that the lone 1 camera could catch cars travelling parallel to the camera but would be very difficult to take photos of car license plates traveling perpendicular to the camera.
Any thoughts on this?
They're likely not red light cameras
Check the images and see if you can make a match:
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/6698
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/6709
Normally they enforce from behind
Agreed, it may not be a red light camera at all, but even if it is, no, normally they are set to capture from behind, so it would probably only work to issue red light camera tickets for cars going in the same direction as the camera is pointing from the back of the vehicles. The reason for this is that some states save some green by not having front-end-of-the-car license plates. If you want to enforce the red light on everyone displaying a plate including out-of-state drivers, you have to shoot the camera from behind the car as it approaches the intersection. Some intersections do of course have devices pointing at approaching vehicles which may also monitor the intersection and record whether the vehicle has crossed the line after the red, but without a rear camera, you can't get the rear plate.
Another way to tell is to look at the intersection carefully for warning signs. It's not foolproof, as I'm not positive that New York has a state or city law requiring warning signs, but most places do have them. If you see a warning sign in all four directions, then I'm probably wrong; somehow they probably are capturing plate numbers for drivers crossing the intersection in all directions. But there are intersections where only one or two directions are enforced.
POI Factory POI files don't distinguish which direction you are approaching the intersection. If there is any red light enforcement camera at the intersection, the files here will try to warn you even if you're going in a direction that is not enforced. And remember that sometimes cameras have been removed or disabled at intersections which warn.
For more discussion of camera enforcement, there's a whole separate area of POI Factory forum to check out:
http://www.poi-factory.com/forum/3
Come be enraged with most of the rest of us (who don't have a financial interest at stake, anyway).
JMoo On