Red light camera stats

[javasaurus]

I know that red-light cameras are controversial (I still don't know why), but wow, do they seem to be effective. A recent Examiner article indicates that red-light running at camera intersections is down by 72% in DC. (and more than 90% at some individual intersections)

Comments

they are controversial because...

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

they are unconstitutional.

you are accused of a crime only because your vehicle was involved. they have no other "proof" that you were behind the while, but you are still accused.

if you say it was you, you have effectively given up your 5th amendment rights in the matter. if you say it wasn't you, you are held in contempt of court for not saying who really was driving your car, violating what some would consider your right of privacy.

the cameras can be (and have been) used in tracking people in a big-brotherish fashion, but that can be said for all cameras in the control of the government.

finally, the pricing structure is wrong and leads to corruption (as was proven in court in san diego, CA). the camera providers are paid per-successful-ticket, not a fixed fee. this gave in incentive to be greedy, not accurate, with the cameras and their timings. in San Diego and other places, the yellow lights were timed shorter, without warning, catching people who were doing exactly what they were doing legally before the camera was in place. this also led to increased speeding through known redlight-camera zones.

Re: they are controversial because...

[javasaurus.livejournal.com]

I don't have any experience with the court system in these matters, and I'm not sure how the cameras could be used for tracking people, but the pricing structure has been greatly criticized and modified since the cameras were first implemented. Currently DC used a semi-fixed price structure -- a flat fee for the first 50,000 tickets per month, and an additional fee for blocks of tickets above that, and it's only supposed to cover the additional resources needed to process the additional tickets. This is a lot different than the original implementation, which gave half the proceeds to the camera company. They don't normally reach the level of additional fees.