Shortened yellow light at red-light camera

Baltimore is known for doing that same thing.

The yellow is pretty much non-existant.

The link to the report is:
http://www.wftv.com/videos/news/9-investigates-shortened-yel...

The reporter states the timing was short by 3/10 second and that would equate to an approximate speed of 40 MPH on the street, but that doesn't take into account the number of lanes involved and any slope that may be present which are all variables in the ITE formula.

An unknown element in this story has to do with the traffic signal controller itself. Some units are not capable of doing timings down to the tenth of a second and deal with whole numbers only. In that instance it would require a controller upgrade which may not have been available leaving the engineer specifying the timings no choice but to round the value to the nearest whole second which means down to 4 seconds rather than up to 5.

Very common to have the short yellow in some of the suburbs around Chicago. Big income producers for municipalities even though their thought process is far from honest. Thanks to the greedy politicians as usual.

Nobody is disputing if tampering with yellow lights is ethical or not, because it's not.

But to cause someone to get a ticket as a result is bogus.

Again, 4 y.o. kids know how to stay onside in soccer or ice hockey, a driver who has been issued a license should know how to safely stop at a red light. Aruguement against does not pass muster.

The yellow light durations are MINIMUMS; setting the duration below the minimum is typically illegal, setting the duration above the minimum is legal (and desirable).
Mark

And what is your reference? The formula itself is nothing but a guide and is not federal law or even a federal requirement. The oft cited "rule-of-thumb" is 1 second for every 10 miles per hour so the "rule" for a light on a 40 MPH street would be 4 seconds. Do you know what the speed limit at that particular intersection is or are you just making a pronouncement to support your belief?

Some states (CA, FL and MD, that I know of) do require a minimum duration for yellow lights in their state statutes

That sorts thing just doesn't surprise me anymore!
it will all be chalked up to a programming error or something silly like that!
Wait for it!

I made two assertions: A) There is a legal minimum yellow duration, and B) If rounding is necessary, you must round up not down. I'm not sure why even knowing the speed limit is relevant for making these assertions. I'm also confused as to what belief I'm supposedly supporting.

A) Assertion that there is a legal minimum yellow duration:
http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Displ...

Section 316.0745 Uniform signals and devices.—
(1) The Department of Transportation shall adopt a uniform system of traffic control devices for use on the streets and highways of the state. The uniform system shall, insofar as is practicable, conform to the system adopted by the American Association of State Highway Officials and shall be revised from time to time to include changes necessary to conform to a uniform national system or to meet local and state needs. The Department of Transportation may call upon representatives of local authorities to assist in the preparation or revision of the uniform system of traffic control devices.

(2) The Department of Transportation shall compile and publish a manual of uniform traffic control devices which defines the uniform system adopted pursuant to subsection (1), and shall compile and publish minimum specifications for traffic control signals and devices certified by it as conforming with the uniform system.

B) Round up assertion:
http://www.dot.state.fl.us/trafficoperations/Doc_Library/PDF...
Section 3.6.2.1: "These intervals are the required minimums. If necessary and due to equipment limitations, round computed values up to the next 0.5 second."

Mark

While the speed limit on the street in question was not provided we can assume from the 4.3 second timing the speed on the street is 45 MPH. If this is the case, then any vehicle entering the intersection more than 3/10ths of a second after the light turned red would still be due a ticket. Those entering the intersection between the 4 second mark when the light turned red and 4.3 seconds should have their tickets nullified and any fines or fees paid returned.

As to the citations you provided, thank you very much for the references.

...it's all about the Benjamins.

As was stated above, short yellows are very common at red lights in Chicago. I was in town last weekend and was glad to remember that fact. If you see the red light camera, plan on a very short yellow light!

I heard that before somewhere and they shut down the camera for awhile.

The news stays the same, just the places change...

When all is said and done, the piece that sparked the greatest comment was the word "shortened" in the thread heading. The fact remains, the light wasn't "shortened" as in changed from one amount to another, it was set for a shorter duration than required by FLDOT guidelines. Was it deliberate, from the news report it appears not. It was an error by the person that calculated the intervals and not done to increase revenue as many here are claiming. We don't know if the camera (which has since been removed) was in place before the work on the intersection was done or if it was installed after. From the installation notes we know the camera operator did not change the timing, but if they noted the timing was off, they didn't report it either. What we really have is a local TV news station doing what they do, sensationalizing an error and blowing it into something it really wasn't.

The other point here which was not mentioned is we don't know how many of those drivers who received tickets in that 3/10ths of a second could have safely stopped but chose to see if they "could beat the light." It sounds as if this is/was a heavily used intersection and the total number of questionable citations is but a small fraction of the number of people going through the light on a daily basis.