Dallas red light cameras too effective.

[Curmudgeon]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-redlights_15met.ART.North.Edition1.468120d.html

[mrhaskellok]

Knee jerk reactions.   Too bad.  Whether you agree with the camera's or not, law enforcement should not "pay for itself" per say.  It should generate revenue, but it should not necessarily operate on a break even model.

If rear-end collisions go up, modify approaches with traffic calming devices to slow/alert traffic before it reaches the intersection.

in order to get the final results you are looking for you must give an incentive for someone to do the right thing.  Perhaps you create a base line of rear-end collisions per intersection with cameras and penalize the partnered company for not solving the problem.  Once someone is loosing money for not fixing the situation, a solution will magically appear, almost always does.

[Wilbur]

In other words, the cameras worked TOO good.

That's the wrong approach.  They shouldn't be used to generate income, they should be used to reduce collisions.  Red light cameras have proven over and over again they reduce collisions.

[Chicken Little]

If they are worried about revenue, why don't they go to the insurance industry?  The actuaries in that business can figure out with some precision how much they are saving through reduced collisions.  If the insurance companies think expansion is important, they should consider subsidizing it a little.

[patric]

Maryland officers ignore speed cameras
ROCKVILLE, Md. (AP) - Even though they're caught on camera, some Maryland police officers are refusing to pay dozens of speeding fines.
Montgomery County, Maryland's, new speed cameras have caught well over 200 police vehicles traveling more than 10-miles-per-hour over the speed limit.

Many of the citations have been dismissed because the officers were responding to calls or had a good reason for going fast, but dozens more tickets remain unpaid.
The police union says officers shouldn't pay because the citations are issued to the car's owners and the police vehicles are owned by the county.

The Montgomery County Police Chief says his officers aren't "above the law" and says those who continue to ignore the speeding tickets might be disciplined.



As for proof they reduce accidents, well...


According to the report, accidents are up at intersections with red light cameras and injuries due to red-light-running have not significantly decreased. Also, the program is costing the city money rather than producing revenue as the city anticipated.
http://www.lubbockonline.com/


A 2003 study using data from Toronto, Hamilton, Halton, Peel, Waterloo and Ottawa found a two-per-cent increase in injuries and fatalities after cameras were installed in a pilot project.
Researchers at the University of South Florida College of Public Health said red-light cameras appear to be a good idea intuitively, but their analysis of data from five studies, including one from Ontario, shows the cameras often cause an increase in injuries and crashes.
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/


D.C. Red-Light Cameras Fail to Reduce Accidents.
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.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/

[MH2010]

I guess cameras aren't the answer for everything after all.

[patric]

quote:Originally posted by MH2010

I guess cameras aren't the answer for everything after all.

If youre attempting to say the failure and abuse of red-light cameras are a justification to not have dashboard cameras in police cars, that's too much of a leap of logic.

[MH2010]

I didn't bring up dashboard cameras.  

A little hyper-sensitive about the issue, huh?