New law that will probably be passed....stop light cameras

[baron_]

I was poking around the system at the statehouse today...and saw a bill that is getting a lot of support....which makes me happy (house bill 30 if anyone is interested)

 

There's tons more info on it. Only around 7 cities have them in Ohio. Including springfield, middletown, columbus, toledo and a few others. I'm from Middletown...and live here in columbus most of the time. SO, I hate these damned things.

 

Estimates say that it might cost Columbus $50,000 to post signs about these things....so maybe they'll get rid of them? (probably not)

 

And the stigma of having that sign on the highway as you enter a small town might be enough to make some cities think about not having them....(I hope?)

 

 

Here's the text: It basically requires towns to post on all highways that they are a town that has red-light photo cameras....at every exit into the town (to inform people)

It passed the house almost unanimously..and they're having hearings on it next week for the Senate, if anyone was interested enough to go

 

 

 

Section 1. That section 4511.092 of the Revised Code be enacted to read as follows:

Sec. 4511.092. (A) As used in this section:

(1) "Local authority" means a municipal corporation, county, or township.

 

(2) "Traffic law photo-monitoring device" means an electronic system consisting of a photographic, video, or electronic camera and a means of sensing the presence of a motor vehicle that automatically produces photographs, videotape, or digital images of the vehicle or its license plate.

 

(B) No local authority shall use traffic law photo-monitoring devices to enforce any traffic law until after it has erected signs on every highway and freeway that is part of the state highway system and that enters that local authority. The signs shall inform inbound traffic that the local authority utilizes traffic law photo-monitoring devices to enforce traffic laws. The signs shall be erected within the first three hundred feet of the boundary of the local authority, and the local authority is responsible for all costs associated with the erection, maintenance, and replacement, if necessary, of the signs. All signs erected under this division shall conform in size, color, location, and content to standards contained in the manual adopted by the department of transportation pursuant to section 4511.09 of the Revised Code and shall remain in place for as long as the local authority utilizes traffic law photo-monitoring devices to enforce any traffic law. Any ticket, citation, or summons issued by or on behalf of the local authority for any traffic law violation based upon evidence gathered by a traffic law photo-monitoring device before the signs have been erected is invalid.

[Wease]

Personally, I don't run red lights, so I don't care if we get them... :gives:

[baron_]

I give a fuck, evidently.

 

It's not about me or you running redlights, it's about other idiots being dangerous with their cars.

 

In my hometown of Middletown, it's often downright dangerous. A lot of the lights are camera lights (tons of them, in fact....they're making a fortune off of them)

I'm hoping these don't become more and more popular in the state...and hopefully this law will prevent a few.

 

 

Other idiots on the road can be scary when they realize they're passing under one of these lights near a yellow (or not even near a yellow...). You never know when some dumb blonde is going to lock up her brakes 50 feet in front of you because the light ticked yellow right in front of her...

 

 

Semis and other vehicles with heavy loads that can't slow easily have also been dangerous....rear-end accidents in some of these towns have skyrocketed

 

Bad conditions (rain, snow, ice, fog) and other variables aren't taken into account by the camera....etc etc

[Dr. Apex]

It comes down to this, they are there and you need to be prepared for a sudden stop, it's called "Assured clear distance ahead(ACDA)", people suck at driving in Ohio and we all know and should be ready for it. Like Wease I have no interest in running a light so it doesn't bother me.

[Wease]

It comes down to this, they are there and you need to be prepared for a sudden stop, it's called "Assured clear distance ahead(ACDA)", people suck at driving in Ohio and we all know and should be ready for it. Like Wease I have no interest in running a light so it doesn't bother me.

 

Very well put. I keep a safe distance, so again, I don't care about them...

[Duff1647545513]

Springfield has a lot of red light cameras. I don't run red lights, but when it was snowing back in february I slid through the red light because i didn't have enough time to stop when it changed from green and it took my picture. I never recieved a ticket in the mail. I don't know if I just got lucky or if they understood the condidtions made it impossible to stop at the light. If they will always take the weather conditions into consideration, I don't think it's that big of a deal to have them.

[Doug1647545489]

Red light cameras are fine with me... speed cameras are a different story...

[Rhett]

If its just the red light cam, Thats cool. But now If it is for speeding and records always at a light it will blow! No more go on green racing? Fuck another reason to roll race.

[large_x7]

Personally, I don't run red lights, so I don't care if we get them... :gives:

 

Until some locality starts shortening the yellows in order to make a buck...thus making the intersection more dangerous.

 

http://www.motorists.org/blog/red-light-cameras/6-cities-that-were-caught-shortening-yellow-light-times-for-profit/

[Avenger1647545502]

Middletown, huh? My grandparents lived there for years, I spent a lot of time there. Have they invented a "Just randomly fucking U-turn wherever the hell there isn't actually a wall in the way" camera yet? I saw more cars 180 in that town in a single week than the entire rest of my life. I don't think red-light cameras would even work, nobody actually ever got to an intersection.....

 

I agree about the cameras, just drive through any of the intersections here in town that have them and notice all the black streaks.

[TTQ B4U]

For the most part I don't care. Besides you can tell when intersections are equipped with them. I don't make it a habbit, but if I'm out really late and there's no one around I have and do treat some as just plain stop signs. Haven't been caught yet so just running with the luck I suppose.

 

Personally, I don't run red lights, so I don't care if we get them... :gives:

[Dave1647545494]

I give a fuck, evidently.

 

It's not about me or you running redlights, it's about other idiots being dangerous with their cars.

 

In my hometown of Middletown, it's often downright dangerous. A lot of the lights are camera lights (tons of them, in fact....they're making a fortune off of them)

I'm hoping these don't become more and more popular in the state...and hopefully this law will prevent a few.

 

 

Other idiots on the road can be scary when they realize they're passing under one of these lights near a yellow (or not even near a yellow...). You never know when some dumb blonde is going to lock up her brakes 50 feet in front of you because the light ticked yellow right in front of her...

 

 

Semis and other vehicles with heavy loads that can't slow easily have also been dangerous....rear-end accidents in some of these towns have skyrocketed

 

Bad conditions (rain, snow, ice, fog) and other variables aren't taken into account by the camera....etc etc

 

every photo is reviewed by a police officer I ran the light at 4th and long this winter (slid through in the snow) and did not recieve a ticket

[BuckeyeGT]

id just quit being a moron and accept the cameras?

[Ry_Trapp01647545522]

Until some locality starts shortening the yellows in order to make a buck...thus making the intersection more dangerous.

 

http://www.motorists.org/blog/red-light-cameras/6-cities-that-were-caught-shortening-yellow-light-times-for-profit/

truf! ive read many a story about this!

[LPFSTheFett]

I am against anything that gives you a ticket without a police officer present. Red Light Camera's, Speed Camera's, whats next?

 

Also, understand the reasoning for the cameras. They are only there to make money. They are 100% not there for the safety of people. There was a news story on NBC about many cities removing the cameras because the cameras were so effective in stoping red light drivers that citations have actually declined from adding the cameras. They wanted to remove them so they could write more tickets.

 

That really put it into perspective for me anyway. I thought the police were there to help protect the people not to maximize the amount of revenue they can make. They sell the people on putting the cameras in because they are going to make our city's safer. When all they truely want to do is make more money. Cameras stop being as effective in writing tickets and they remove them. What about my safety?

 

That would be like hospitals coming up with a cure for cancer that only cost $5.00, but then not selling the cure anymore because the hospitals were losing too much money by not performing surgeries or other appointments.

[iwantaturbo]

Personally, I don't run red lights, so I don't care if we get them... :gives:

 

same here, but it would be nice to have that assurance that if you did, you're not necessarily going to be busted for it.

[rambo76098]

Here is why I dislike cameras...

 

In Virginia, Injury accidents went down 5 percent in one intersection but up between 6 and 89 percent in all others.

 

Also, Cameras were associated with an increase of between 31 percent and 54 percent for rear-end crashes overall. -Virginia Transportation Research Council

 

According to the Florida Public Health Association, the use of red light cameras leads to increases in insurance rates, profits, and injury accidents.

 

The number of collisions increased 58 percent after cameras were introduced at the twelve intersections.. Injuries increased 64% and property damage claims between 60% and 113% -Winnipeg Audit Department

 

In D.C.:

Accident Type 1998 2004 Change

Broadside 81 106 +30%

Fatal/Injury 144 262 +81%

Overall 365 755 +107%

 

Also In D.C., camera-free intersections had a 64% increase in accidents overall, a 54% increase in fatal and serious injury accidents, and a 17% rise in t-bone collisions. -Washington Post (known as the "halo effect")

 

Increasing duration of yellow lights for one second resulted in a 40% decrease in accidents. -Texas Transportation Institute

 

Shorter yellow lights are likely the cause for 80% of red light camera violations. -Office of the House Majority Leader

 

Also, Improving signal visibility reduced violations 25%

 

Lubbock, TX shut down their ticketing program after they discovered it was costing them money.

 

I have a ton more statistics if you really want them, these are just a few specific studies. Red light cameras are not implemented for safety, they are there to make money. There are a ton of other ways to improve safety and reduce the number of accidents/violations.

[Ry_Trapp01647545522]

i saw a show(cant remember what it was) on the discovery channel maybe a year or 2 ago about how replacing stoplights with 3/4 way stop signs dramatically reduced the number of accidents in those specific intersections. people(such as my self) are more inclined to stomp the gas to make that yellow since they know they will be waiting a little while, and end up in a major collision. with stop signs in place, you just pull up, stop, wait for the person with the right away, then go. no yellows to 'beat', no long waiting periods, just a quick stop and go. the statistics are just amazing, and its rediculous that this isn't being implemented across the nation. im not saying that we should get rid of every stop light(some intersections obviously need them), but we should get rid of them in areas where they aren't needed(pretty much every 2 lane intersection).

[LPFSTheFett]

A lot of stop lights are used in a pattern with other stop lights, to allow traffic to move quicker either in or out of the city. To put stop signs in those areas would drastically reduce traffic flow.

 

They could easilly make the yellow longer and the delay from red to green longer as well. They said something like 95% of red lights run are done within .25 seconds of the light turning red and wouldn't cause an accident.