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Italian Red Lights Rigged With Short Yellow Light
suraj.sun writes with an excerpt from Ars Technica which brings to mind the importance of auditable code for hardware used in law enforcement: "It's no secret that red light cameras are often used to generate more ticket revenue for the cities that implement them, but a scam has been uncovered in Italy that has led to one arrest and 108 investigations over traffic systems being rigged to stop sooner for the sole purpose of ticketing more motorists."
the lights near me which were changed to camera enforced had their yellow reduced the minimum allowed by the law.
The formula for this is pretty swift, http://safety.transportation.org/htmlguides/sgn_int/App02.htm
It is very common to see people lock down when it goes yellow so approaching either of the two I go through does require extra caution. The fortunate application is that they did concentrate on those crossings with the most amount of accidents from people running red lights. They have not applied them to intersections for leaving or entering an interstate where the rule seems to be five cars on red.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
That's exactly what I thought when I saw it and wondered about the information regarding the Italian govenment's ties to its equivalent of Hollywood[disclaimer: link is not necessarily trying to make my point, I couldn't find a better one] and its placement of entertainment-related personnel into their government(Hmm, sound familiar?).
I used to think this but I visited Italy 2 years ago (after a 10 year previous visit) and saw a disturbing trend... women were getting fatter and not taking care of themselves. During the same trip I spent considerable time in Germany. I must say the German women were in better shape and took care of their appearance better.
I am a native born Italian, BTW.
At least we know that it doesn't happen in America. Except in about 6 cities or so.
Anyone know or have a figure on how much a city makes in red lights and how much these camera systems cost? Even without factoring in the fines that result or the increased traffic accidents this causes, is it profitable, or is this an example of bureacracy at it's finest?
In other words, is this actually a way of getting more money, or is this that the performance bonuses of department A are based entirely off of how much revenue they bring in from tickets without subtracting how much they spent. It just kind of sounds like someone was told their job was to fine as many people they could for running red lights, don't care how you do it, and they realized this was easier than actually making enforcement more efficient.
I agree, I don't think they have anything to do with safety either. How is it even supposed to help? Which is a better deterrent, a $350 fine or the risk of a truck turning you into a pancake?
They just installed one at the intersection outside my apartment. I was sitting at the intersection waiting for a green light and no other cars were around and yet a bright flash from the camera went off in my face not once but twice. I can't stand the damn thing.
We hope your rules and wisdom choke you / Now we are one in everlasting peace
They just installed one at the intersection outside my apartment. I was sitting at the intersection waiting for a green light and no other cars were around and yet a bright flash from the camera went off in my face not once but twice. I can't stand the damn thing.
They need two pictures (preferably a measured amount of time apart) to prove that a car running the red light was moving and not just broken down in a bad spot.
"Little does he know, but there is no 'I' in 'Idiot'!"
I've been in Germany, and they have a flashing green before the yellow, and something else I don't remember (but intuitive) when switching from red to green.
I can definitively say it saves time, gas and brakes.
Moderation is overrated.
I wouldn't take orzetto's opinion as "insightful" merely because he's Italian. There is a strong tradition of self-deprecation of their country among Italians (and especially in certain areas of the political spectrum) which has little basis in reality.
The judiciary is one especially touchy subject. Whenever a reform is proposed, some people wail about how it would be the "end of democracy" and it would "put Italy outside of the civilized world", etc.. And if a foreigner hears this, they'll naturally think that Italy has it pretty bad. But if you look at what these "undemocratic" reforms actually are, it turns out that they are all things that most other democratic countries already do. In other words, what they're actually saying is not "Italy would become less democratic!", but "Germany, France, the UK, the USA, etc. are totalitarian hellholes! We don't want to become more like them!"
Now, there is a problem with how long trials last in Italy. It's a hard issue to tackle, in part due to the magistrates' staunch opposition to any sort of reform. What certainly isn't the problem, though, is the amount of money spent on the judiciary, which is comparable with what other European countries spend on it. For example, from a comparation of judiciary systems in Europe we find that in 2000 Italy spent 61 euro per inhabitant on justice (109 euro per inhabitant if you add prison expenses), while in 2001 France spent 65 euro per inhabitant. And, although I don't have time to look for more recent data online right now, I remember reading that Italy's expenses on justice have actually been growing faster than in other countries over the past few years. In fact, Italian newspapers have often complained about how the country gets a poor service from its judiciary even though it spends quite a lot of money on it.
Bottom line, orzetto's claims have but the feeblest connection with reality.