Mississippi Bans Red-Light Cameras
Mississippi has passed a law banning red light cameras. No new cameras will go up, and all existing ones must come down by October. Bravo.
Meanwhile, New Jersey, where I live, is adding towns to the list for new red light cameras. Other places are adding them as well. That's not so good.
Laws were meant to be enforced by people, not computers. And they certainly weren't meant to be a source of revenue at the expense of safety, which is what these things are – even more so than the rest of traffic enforcement.
Do you think they make you any safer? You can get statistics to say anything you like, but the overall result seems to be that red light cameras don't reduce accidents, they just change what kind of accidents happen. Let's say I'm approaching an intersection where I know there is a red light camera, and the light turns yellow with plenty of time to make it. What will I do? I'll hit the brakes, of course. Hard.
I can stop from highway speed in a bit over 100 feet. Once I had to emergency-stop from 75mph on I-90 when a pronghorn jumped into the road; I got a bruise from the seat belt. 50mph ain't no thing; I can stop in no time, wet road or not. Can you? Unless you drive a sports car too, and buy really good tires, you probably can't. So, please don't tailgate.
The question to ask when deciding whether to stop isn't “can I make it?”, it's “can I stop safely?” Red light cameras reverse this; drivers answer the wrong question, and safety is not improved.
When law enforcement is turned into a profit center, it's bad for everyone, except maybe the government getting the money. What happens next, after the red light cameras go in? The yellow light times are shortened, of course. If you think you're okay to keep going, you may be wrong now, and then you'll learn to slam full on the brakes next time. In some cases the yellow times are reduced to less than the minimum required by law.
Never mind that increasing yellow times reduces accidents significantly. It also reduces revenue! And that's what traffic enforcement is all about.
