Austin's red light cameras totally unenforceable (Round Rock, Atlanta: insurance, credit, school)

[baytownb]

This report from KXAN details that Austin's red light SCAMeras are totally unenforceable and the APD admits it. Texas law (you can look it up transportation code 707) prohibits a camera ticket from resulting in an arrest, can't go on your credit, can't go on your license or insurance. Austin's camera tickets are totally illegal as well since they are issuing tickets without doing the required engineering study. NEVER pay a SCAMera ticket. They are purely optional. You can find more at trash your ticket

https://www.kxan.com/news/investigat...LX3Q-sYmw026Ws

[ScoPro]

Round Rock got rid of ours a couple of years ago.

[baytownb]

Yep, I was proud to help with that effort. For two years we presented the city's own data that accidents were up not down and the Mayor defended the program saying that wasn't true. Then all of the sudden the police chief reports that accidents are up and the city says the program didn't work and they are bringing it down. You know what changed? People stopped paying and the program wasn't as profitable as before. It's always about the money. Oh and the mayor is a demonstrated liar and put people at risk knowing the SCAMeras were causing accidents and lied to cover that up.

Originally Posted by ScoPro

Round Rock got rid of ours a couple of years ago.

[ScoPro]

Yep.

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by baytownb

This report from KXAN details that Austin's red light SCAMeras are totally unenforceable and the APD admits it. Texas law (you can look it up transportation code 707) prohibits a camera ticket from resulting in an arrest, can't go on your credit, can't go on your license or insurance. Austin's camera tickets are totally illegal as well since they are issuing tickets without doing the required engineering study. NEVER pay a SCAMera ticket. They are purely optional. You can find more at trash your ticket

https://www.kxan.com/news/investigat...LX3Q-sYmw026Ws

Let me guess. You ran a red light, got caught by a camera, and decided to show them!


Because you do realize, whether or not you have to pay the ticket, the camera shows that you did, indeed, run the red light.

[Need4Camaro]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

Let me guess. You ran a red light, got caught by a camera, and decided to show them!


Because you do realize, whether or not you have to pay the ticket, the camera shows that you did, indeed, run the red light.

While I understand and to an extent agree with this, I believe the real problem with these camera's is they are infact illegal and they also are prone to causing accidents at intersections.

Citations of any kind HAVE to be issued by a real and witnessing police officer for them to be enforceable. The same goes for School Bus cameras (not sure if Austin has these yet) We used to have these cameras in Atlanta but the majority of them were taken down because literally, they didn't generate enough revenue. The problem with them is, when the light turns yellow, people that are more than capable of clearing the yellow are slamming on their brakes unexpectedly and suddenly coming to a stop making them 10 times more prone to being rear ended by the guy behind him who wasn't expecting the sudden stop, or plainly...couldn't stop. Another problem is, some municipalities have gone as far as decreasing the amount of time in the yellow light phase in effort to incur more red light runners. (Washington D.C. did this. Some intersections in Atlanta did as well.)

The issue is, these cameras have nothing to do with promoting safety, they are fund collectors that increase the number of rear end collisions WHILE being completely illegal to install in the first place...to me thats kind of an issue.

[baytownb]

Wrong on all accounts. Never got a ticket for running a red light from a cop or a SCAMera. I oppose the scam because it is a scam and the SCAMeras are dangerous and unconstitutional. No idea why you would seem to support illegality and be anti safety. And no, the SCAMera does NOT show who ran the red light. It shows a pictures of the vehicle not the driver.

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

Let me guess. You ran a red light, got caught by a camera, and decided to show them!


Because you do realize, whether or not you have to pay the ticket, the camera shows that you did, indeed, run the red light.

[baytownb]

Not just rear end accidents. The increase in rear end accidents is accepted by everyone including the people the make money off the SCAMeras. Cities have seen increases in accidents of all types at SCAMera intersections. There just is no dispute over rear end accidents increasing because of the SCAMeras.

Originally Posted by Need4Camaro

While I understand and to an extent agree with this, I believe the real problem with these camera's is they are infact illegal and they also are prone to causing accidents at intersections.

Citations of any kind HAVE to be issued by a real and witnessing police officer for them to be enforceable. The same goes for School Bus cameras (not sure if Austin has these yet) We used to have these cameras in Atlanta but the majority of them were taken down because literally, they didn't generate enough revenue. The problem with them is, when the light turns yellow, people that are more than capable of clearing the yellow are slamming on their brakes unexpectedly and suddenly coming to a stop making them 10 times more prone to being rear ended by the guy behind him who wasn't expecting the sudden stop, or plainly...couldn't stop. Another problem is, some municipalities have gone as far as decreasing the amount of time in the yellow light phase in effort to incur more red light runners. (Washington D.C. did this. Some intersections in Atlanta did as well.)

The issue is, these cameras have nothing to do with promoting safety, they are fund collectors that increase the number of rear end collisions WHILE being completely illegal to install in the first place...to me thats kind of an issue.

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by Need4Camaro

While I understand and to an extent agree with this, I believe the real problem with these camera's is they are infact illegal and they also are prone to causing accidents at intersections.

Citations of any kind HAVE to be issued by a real and witnessing police officer for them to be enforceable. The same goes for School Bus cameras (not sure if Austin has these yet) We used to have these cameras in Atlanta but the majority of them were taken down because literally, they didn't generate enough revenue. The problem with them is, when the light turns yellow, people that are more than capable of clearing the yellow are slamming on their brakes unexpectedly and suddenly coming to a stop making them 10 times more prone to being rear ended by the guy behind him who wasn't expecting the sudden stop, or plainly...couldn't stop. Another problem is, some municipalities have gone as far as decreasing the amount of time in the yellow light phase in effort to incur more red light runners. (Washington D.C. did this. Some intersections in Atlanta did as well.)

The issue is, these cameras have nothing to do with promoting safety, they are fund collectors that increase the number of rear end collisions WHILE being completely illegal to install in the first place...to me thats kind of an issue.

The problem is caused by people who have been acclimated (as I have, myself, I acknowledge) to speed up when the light turns yellow. If the predictable consequences of this were allowed to continue for a while, we'd all (myself included) learn what an idiotic thing that is to do and would start slowing down to stop, as the yellow light is advising us is the appropriate thing to do.



Instead, we decide that the inmates should run the asylum, or at least be catered to and accommodated in their behavior.



Funny thing, the traffic laws used to be enforced and people drove better.



I've gotten a red light ticket (well, actually, it was my husband, driving my pickup, with me in the passenger seat noticing that he didn't come to a complete stop at that turn) and I paid it because it absolutely showed what the ticket was for. I didn't whine about it (well, maybe a little, but because it was a $90 ticket, not because I didn't agree with the fact that the law had been violated).

[Need4Camaro]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

The problem is caused by people who have been acclimated (as I have, myself, I acknowledge) to speed up when the light turns yellow. If the predictable consequences of this were allowed to continue for a while, we'd all (myself included) learn what an idiotic thing that is to do and would start slowing down to stop, as the yellow light is advising us is the appropriate thing to do.



Instead, we decide that the inmates should run the asylum, or at least be catered to and accommodated in their behavior.



Funny thing, the traffic laws used to be enforced and people drove better.



I've gotten a red light ticket (well, actually, it was my husband, driving my pickup, with me in the passenger seat noticing that he didn't come to a complete stop at that turn) and I paid it because it absolutely showed what the ticket was for. I didn't whine about it (well, maybe a little, but because it was a $90 ticket, not because I didn't agree with the fact that the law had been violated).

Interesting thing about those tickets is they can't even put points on your record for it.

I personally don't speed up when the light turns yellow... ...instead I particularly learn the rhythm and traffic light sequencing on the selected street over a course of time to determine the best reasonable speed to travel at and try to get them all green ... Admittedly some of them are fairly unpredictable, in fact I can't say the traffic lights here in Austin have the best timing patterns compared to what I have seen across the country but...they get the job done for the most part. The worst place I've seen to this date would be Louisiana.

When I was in Atlanta, those camera's stood out like a sore thumb, you knew when an intersection was employed with them. I typically approached those intersections at a lower speed incase it changed yellow - if it did...yeah...I'd hit my brakes. I've never been 'caught' by a camera but they really annoy me when approaching an intersection employed with one because you have to be so cognitive about when that light may change and who will be stopping too early.

In Georgia (and I'm assuming pretty much anywhere in the country) - If the nose of your car passes the 'Stop Line' or the 'Pedestrian Crosswalk' if no Stop Line is present before the light changes red, its considered legal...meaning one shouldn't be citated (camera or cop) for running a red light if the light turns from yellow to red while he's passing through the intersection. Many people don't know this and just flat out STOP when they still have the right of way.

Another fun fact about traffic lights is...contrary to popular belief, they are not designed to reduce automobile accidents in busy intersections. Infact that was never apart of their schematic. While they also optimize flow, they are collision converters. They convert side impacts where there is less armor on a vehicle to protect its occupants, to rear end collisions where there is much more armor to protect its occupants. Statistically speaking, when a signal is installed, the statistic of side impacts usually just translates to rear impacts...but thats another rabbit hole.