The Washington Post
The District's red-light cameras have generated more than 500,000 violations and $32 million in fines over the past six years. City officials credit them with making busy roads safer.
But a Washington Post analysis of crash statistics shows that the number of accidents has gone up at intersections with the cameras. The increase is the same or worse than at traffic signals without the devices.
It get's worse. Governments of greed are actually shortening the length of time you have to avoid a red light. This increases revenue for city officials to spend on themselves but creates a very dangerous situation.
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Simply put, shorter yellow lights mean more people enter on red. When yellow time is inadequate, a condition develops where individuals approaching an intersection are unable either to come to a safe stop or proceed safely through the intersection before the light turns red. Engineers call this condition the "dilemma zone" and it's something that the old formula for calculating yellow times was specifically designed to avoid.
The city of Mesa, Arizona added about a second of yellow time to several intersections. The result was a 73 percent reduction in red light entries and a corresponding reduction in accidents. The safety effect was so dramatic that the red light cameras became money losers and the city recently decided to retire the devices.
When the government is out to collect unjust fines it's only natural for the citizens to avoid these fines. What happens when the shorten up the yellow and fine you for being in the intersection? Simple, when the traffic light turns yellow you slam on your brakes so you don't pay the fine that can amount to one or two hundred dollars. The results are obvious.
A study in Maryland found that traffic camera's increase the chance of accidents.
Immediately after installation, the cameras sparked a 40-percent increase in rear-end collisions, and never looked back, with five-year increases in accident rates far exceeding a 10-percent increase in traffic.
Do you think the governments are looking after the citizens or are they looking after their own pocketbooks?
One more thing. The municipalities that are using these cameras and shortening up their yellows are generally run by liberals. Go figure.