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Cities Tampering With Traffic Lights To Generate Revenue
Techdirt is reporting that there has been a rash of reports indicating that red light cameras are being used to generate revenue rather than to promote safety. "Time and time again studies have shown that if cities really wanted to make traffic crossings safer there's a very simple way to do so: increase the length of the yellow light and make sure there's a pause before the cross traffic light turns green (this is done in some places, but not in many others). Tragically, it looks like some cities are doing the opposite! Jeff Nolan points out that six US cities have been caught decreasing the length of the yellow light below the legal limits in an effort to catch more drivers running red lights and [increase] revenue."
Yellow means be prepared to stop, not to floor it through the intersection.
This "revenue raising" riff is getting mighty tired. If you don't want a ticket DON'T BREAK THE LAW! Don't try and be the fifth person to squeeze through the orange light and you won't get done for running the red one. Don't speed and the speeding cameras won't catch you speeding. Some of us actually try to follow the law and don't want to be killed my some moron who thinks the world revolves around them or that speed limits don't apply to them because their car is all new and high tech.