So, my friend told me to drive with this on so I can avoid red light tickets

[N1rve]

[ericmpena]

I read a story of a guy wearing a gorilla mask who was able to get out of Toll Road tickets.

[budder]

Originally Posted by Ganthrithor

Well that's fucking terrible. I guess that explains why yellow lights were so short when I lived in Boulder (they seemed to have a lot of red-light cameras). I still never did get ticketed but those lights made winter driving scary as all fuck (you're moving at normal driving speeds towards the intersection, light goes yellow and gives you about two or three seconds to stop... not fun when there isn't much grip or you're driving an old Land Rover... definitely not fun when both conditions are true at the same time.

Still, I can see why people would want red light cameras. When I lived in Denver I lived near a busy intersection of two, four-lane avenues. Every day I'd cross that intersection walking to school and I'd see people running the shit out of red left-turn lights... sometimes you'd see the light go red and 2-3 more cars would just amble on through as though nothing was out of the ordinary. You basically had to just sit on the curb for the first 5-6 seconds of the "walk" signal to avoid getting run down by morons. Even after a student was killed at the same intersection by a red-running SUV nothing was done to either adjust the timing of the lights to alleviate the massive backup of cars that always accumulated at the intersection or dissuade people from running the reds. Meanwhile the city continued to pay some corporation to place speed camera vans in deserted construction zones at night so they could try and illegally extort money from people doing 35mph on well-lit, sparsely-trafficked, ruler-straight 4-lane roads.

'Murka.

Just read this article this morning, via Overlawyered.com: http://wtkr.com/2014/02/04/red-light...are-too-short/

[frslee]

Redlight cameras take driver's face? Here they take picture of the license plate..

[Ganthrithor]

Originally Posted by budder

Just read this article this morning, via Overlawyered.com: http://wtkr.com/2014/02/04/red-light...are-too-short/

I rarely had a problem stopping for red lights (there was one time in Boulder driving an old Discovery where I was pretty curious about whether I'd stop or not, but that is the only incident I can recall), but short yellows definitely feel unsafe; when I have to threshold brake because of traffic engineers' ineptitude I get pretty mad. I can definitely see how it would be difficult for people who are driving clumsy SUVs, poorly-tyred cars or commercial vehicles to stop.

I don't mind the idea of red-light cameras in areas where lights are properly-timed though. There definitely are plenty of asshats who seem to think, "Oh, it only just turned red-- I'll just go real quick because I don't want to sit in this turn lane for another five minutes."

[Poodles]

Originally Posted by Ganthrithor

I rarely had a problem stopping for red lights (there was one time in Boulder driving an old Discovery where I was pretty curious about whether I'd stop or not, but that is the only incident I can recall), but short yellows definitely feel unsafe; when I have to threshold brake because of traffic engineers' ineptitude I get pretty mad. I can definitely see how it would be difficult for people who are driving clumsy SUVs, poorly-tyred cars or commercial vehicles to stop.

I don't mind the idea of red-light cameras in areas where lights are properly-timed though. There definitely are plenty of asshats who seem to think, "Oh, it only just turned red-- I'll just go real quick because I don't want to sit in this turn lane for another five minutes."

That's just the thing, engineers generally have nothing to do with the way roads are run (sadly). Most engineers argue that speed limits should be much higher, but increasing the speed limits instead of keeping them artificially low for what the road can handle would only cut revenue.


There was a group going around suing cities for having short yellow lights on the intersections with the cameras (they compared to the other lights in the area). One could do this themselves if they so desired as a defense as it was considered entrapment (YMMV).


There's also fun statistics showing the accident rates for intersections with the cameras is higher because people will slam on their brakes at a yellow light and get rear ended. It's not about safety, it's about money.

[sshole]

Originally Posted by WolfpackS2k

BTW, as someone briefly mentioned, most of the cameras are left and and even operational (just with no film) so one that's no longer being used for tickets could still flash at you and make you think you'll be ticketed. Bastards!!!

Film? Are we in the 90s? Every red light camera I've seen is a digital SLR. It probably doesn't even have a flash memory card installed, but just a direct connection from the camera to a computer that's remotely located somewhere offsite that automatically prints out your ticket.

[BRZfan]

I have some Kodachrome 8mm color movie film for sale. Processing not included.

Originally Posted by sshole

Film? Are we in the 90s? Every red light camera I've seen is a digital SLR. It probably doesn't even have a flash memory card installed, but just a direct connection from the camera to a computer that's remotely located somewhere offsite that automatically prints out your ticket.

[Dave-ROR]

Originally Posted by Intake

Pretty hilarious, but does anyone recall the story where some guy was wearing a mask and kept running red light for tickets, but claimed it was not him?

The thing my friend was talking about:
http://hypefind.com/shop/accoutrements-horse-head-mask/

At least here red light violations based on a camera are a no point ticket. They could not care less who was driving. The owner of the car gets the bill regardless.

[Dave-ROR]

Originally Posted by BRZBlack

Same in Chicago. A lot of them are being taken down due to not generating enough money. Plus, if the camera cant see your face.... even if you get a ticket in the mail you can dispute it. You have a right to face your accuser directly in court. You cannot face a robot and have it defend its actions. Worked for me. Twice. Know your rights!

This is true. While I've never gotten a red light ticket I would also fight it.