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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."
No, the problem is that people think that yellow means they should automatically try to race across the intersection. This is the fundamental error that needs to be addressed.
It's easy for an observer like yourself to come around and say "gee, that's not what you're supposed to do", but reactions like this cannot be addressed with arguments.
Yes they can. The problem is with people who do not understand what yellow ultimately means and always try to squeeze through. This behavior is what leads to people running lights and jamming up traffic for the crossing flow of traffic because they kept going through.
The yellow should give sufficient time to clear the intersection of those who couldn't stop, not allow a "final trickle" of traffic to go through as fast as they can. This leads to people rear-ending each other because they didn't expect the light to turn red and slam on their breaks when it finally does.