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Not necessarily. In fact, I've noticed people trying to speed through, to pass the light as soon as they can. While many, jam on brakes rather abruptly. I was a witness to an accident that entailed the sequence above. "Property" is probably at a greater risk with lights, IMO.
As for life, may be. But then, I believe that traffic accidents for running lights happen because people are in another world at the time and the only purpose the camera serves is take pictures of the aftermath.
Not necessarily. In fact, I've noticed people trying to speed through, to pass the light as soon as they can. While many, jam on brakes rather abruptly. I was a witness to an accident that entailed the sequence above. "Property" is probably at a greater risk with lights, IMO.
As for life, may be. But then, I believe that traffic accidents for running lights happen because people are in another world at the time and the only purpose the camera serves is take pictures of the aftermath.
Not necessarily. In fact, I've noticed people trying to speed through, to pass the light as soon as they can. While many, jam on brakes rather abruptly. I was a witness to an accident that entailed the sequence above.
This would illustrate what I'm talking about, the camera can impede the normal flow of traffic. Normally this is a judgment call and in some cases going through the red light is safest way to proceed if for example the other option is to slam your brakes on. Now we have another variable where the camera plays a factor and the driver instead of doing what is safe takes actions to prevent getting a ticket. Again the cuse of most accidents is anything that disrupts the normal flow of traffic like someone pulling up to a light and stopping abruptly.
This would illustrate what I'm talking about, the camera can impede the normal flow of traffic. Normally this is a judgment call and in some cases going through the red light is safest way to proceed if for example the other option is to slam your brakes on. Now we have another variable where the camera plays a factor and the driver instead of doing what is safe takes actions to prevent getting a ticket. Again the cuse of most accidents is anything that disrupts the normal flow of traffic like someone pulling up to a light and stopping abruptly.
That's why the red light cameras are programed to ignore the people doing the right thing by running the red light. That way they don't get slammed in the rear. That leeway is a life saver, not to mention a money saver.
It could be different in other towns, but in my town and as well as in the Dallas area, it is the same.
From "Safelight"
The first 17 cameras installed in January of 2007 now have two years of post implementation data and our analysis shows the following before and after results:
61% average reduction in intersection accidents caused by red light running (http://www.dallascityhall.com/pubsafe/safelight.html - broken link)
30% average reduction in intersection accidents of all types (http://www.dallascityhall.com/pubsafe/safelight.html - broken link)
100% of the intersections showed reductions in red-light accidents (http://www.dallascityhall.com/pubsafe/safelight.html - broken link)
That's why the red light cameras are programed to ignore the people doing the right thing by running the red light. That way they don't get slammed in the rear. That leeway is a life saver, not to mention a money saver.
It could be different in other towns, but in my town and as well as in the Dallas area, it is the same.
From "Safelight"
The first 17 cameras installed in January of 2007 now have two years of post implementation data and our analysis shows the following before and after results:
61% average reduction in intersection accidents caused by red light running (http://www.dallascityhall.com/pubsafe/safelight.html - broken link)
30% average reduction in intersection accidents of all types (http://www.dallascityhall.com/pubsafe/safelight.html - broken link)
100% of the intersections showed reductions in red-light accidents (http://www.dallascityhall.com/pubsafe/safelight.html - broken link)
There are studies that suggest an increase in accidents as well, and that accidents have declined regardless of camera being in place, or not.
The biggest problem with such enforcements is that cameras don't think. They don't take into account how a person or the vehicle will react to conditions. On many occasions, it might be safer for vehicle to go when the camera would record it as a violation, and that requires judgment call on a person who would review the case. In one case, a similar call resulted in a challenge thrown out of the court, because the camera and the person analyzing agreed, but the details didn't. This person was turning at a light, after yielding... the camera took multiple shots showing the person took several seconds to go through and when it was safe. Yet, he received this ticket, and had to go through the nuisance of challenging it.
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