Supposedly, the camera cams are being sold as a way to reduce traffic
accidents - but once a camera is installed, it stays - I would think it
would reduce accidents as promised and then would not be needed anymore?
but, no - the cameras stay and actually reproduce and grown in number so
even more money can be made.
If they were truly reducing accidents, they would reach a time when crime
was reduced and the cameras no longer producing income - IF they reduced
crime. The reality is they do not reduce accidents - they put $$s into the
company installing and monitoring them along with the city treasury. And
once a gov't entity finds a way to make money it will be very hard to stop.
Initially, in San Diego IIRC, the company installing the cameras were
responsible for setting the timing of the greens, yellows and reds. The
length of time the yellows stayed lit had no logical basis - other than
short timing to generate the maximum number of tickets - and money.
One of the problems with these social engineering problems is they are sold
to the public using one set of standards but implementation follows a
different set of standards - often tweaked by nameless, unelected
beaurocrats who are given one and only one target - generating more money.
Perhaps these problems have been addressed - but the people who were
needlessly ticketed still bear the cost - and often they are those who can
least aford a ticket. Someone mentioned placing the cameras in the highest
areas of red light running and accidents - and are often lower income areas.
I believe this is because low income people are less likely to fight these
tickets and get the media involved. After all, the media will not get too
excited if BillyBob the gardener is given a ticket for going thru a 1 second
yellow, preceded by a short green - but if a wealthy person who may have
easy access to a lawyer gets things the media involved things are likely to
change. And Billy bob will be paying higher insurance cost for the next 5
years - whether the camera is changed or not.
Don;t get me wrong - I believe rich people should be treated the same as
poor people - I'm adamantely against fines that increase with the income of
the person paying the fine - but the reverse is also true - and the poor of
the world iften get trampled because no one is watching.
Sorry if I'm rambling - my short term memory is pretty bad thanks to the
pain meds I'm taking.
;-)
Larry T (67 MGB, 74 911, 78 240D, 91 300D)
www.youroil.net for Oil Analysis and Weber Parts
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.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rich Thomas" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Mercedes Discussion List" <mercedes@okiebenz.com>
Sent: Monday, October 02, 2006 2:16 PM
Subject: Re: [MBZ] OT: Traffic Cams
Houston just got some red light cams working. The company that installs
and runs them gets 60% or 70% of the revenues if I recall right. It is
more about revenue generation for the city (with little effort) than law
enforcement, though one has to agree that running red lights is a
problem that needs to be dealt with. One thing I noticed when I moved
here from the Boston area is that yellow lights are shorter (can't say
how much, you just know it, maybe a second or two) than they were there,
where it was expected that people run the yellows. And the easy
solution would be to set the green lights to delay a coupla seconds when
the cross light goes red, to provide a bit of buffer. But that is too
simple.
And the cops here really don't do much about traffic enforcement, and
drive about as poorly as a lot of the drivers on the road --speeding, no
signals, weaving in/out of traffic. Bad cops! No donuts!
--R
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