SB 88- Making red light camera tickets illegal

[TVGuy]

Has anyone been following this one? It's passed the Senate, will it pass the house?

[doncb]

I hope it doesn't pass. In fact, I would like to see the fines made into a moving violation. I'd also like to see cameras at every intersection. It's one thing to have to squeak through the light. Something totally different to see 2, 3 or 4 cars go through the light.

[curryman]

I hope it doesn't pass. In fact, I would like to see the fines made into a moving violation. I'd also like to see cameras at every intersection. It's one thing to have to squeak through the light. Something totally different to see 2, 3 or 4 cars go through the light.

I agree with your sentiment. However my wife got one on the way to work. Light was red for .13 seconds and the yellow was changed from 5 seconds to 3. At 50mph you can't react and stop in 3 seconds.

[G.A. Heath]

Red light tickets are not issued to the violator, they are instead issued to the owner of the vehicle. So If I were to borrow your vehicle and run a red light with camera enforcement you would get the ticket, not me even though you did nothing wrong. To make things worse you would have to prove that you were not responsible for the infraction, not the city/county government prove you were responsible. Additionally there has been a number of studies that shows many photo enforced intersections have had the lights adjusted to increase revenue and actually do not meet state guidelines. Overall photo enforcement is generally abused and often causes more problems than it solves. You can get much better results by parking a patrol car and putting a mannequin inside of it for a few hours a day while spending less money than the photo system costs. Of course the mannequin won't generate revenue...

[Pawpaw]

Red light cameras have absolutely no safety value. They're all about revenue generation.

[4copas]

Red light cameras have absolutely no safety value. They're all about revenue generation.

These things are disgusting. Light management, for the ticket instead of safety, ridiculous.

[twomillenium]

I hope it passes, the stats that say they stop accidents have been proven to be manipulated.

[carlson1]

Red light tickets are not issued to the violator, they are instead issued to the owner of the vehicle. So If I were to borrow your vehicle and run a red light with camera enforcement you would get the ticket, not me even though you did nothing wrong. To make things worse you would have to prove that you were not responsible for the infraction, not the city/county government prove you were responsible. Additionally there has been a number of studies that shows many photo enforced intersections have had the lights adjusted to increase revenue and actually do not meet state guidelines. Overall photo enforcement is generally abused and often causes more problems than it solves. You can get much better results by parking a patrol car and putting a mannequin inside of it for a few hours a day while spending less money than the photo system costs. Of course the mannequin won't generate revenue...

200%. Well said. It is simply a tax on people who legally register their vehicles.

[nightmare69]

They removed all redlight cameras a couple of years ago in my city.

[Ruark]

Just as a data point, I know of some cities with red light cameras that "tweaked" their yellow lights from, say, 5 seconds to 4 seconds, creating X% more red light tickets and X% more revenue.

[crazy2medic]

Early one morning I was on my way to work, it was about 5:45, I pulled up to the intersection of Rufe Snow and Watauga road, maybe a second or two a driver pulled up next to me and another car stopped on the opposite side of the intersection, nobody is moving when the red light cameras start firing, I couldn't help but wonder how many people got a ticket from a false triggering of the caneras

[MeMelYup]

What I find disgusting about red light cameras is that the city only gets a percentage of the fines. A police officer does not monitor the camera. The tickets are not from the city, but from the company that runs the cameras, in the name of the city. Several of the companies are located in California. The judges are hired by the companies from the local city. Therefore the judge is not representing the city but a private company.

[AJSully421]

My issue is that I cannot face my accuser in a court and plead my case. That is why they made it a "civil infraction" and not an actual crime, because they know it would get tossed. Seems like a slimy way to bypass the Constitution.

I got one, never paid it. The private company who contracted with the city sent some nasty letter, and then they had some sleazy law firm write me a letter. Our County Tax Assessor has said that he will never block people's registration renewals due to a red light fine. It was noted in the comments section on my registration renewal for the last two years, but dropped off this last time, or maybe the last two times... something about "Red Light Scofflaw" or something along those lines.

"Where there is no enforcement, there is no law" - AJ Sullivan

If you get one in Tarrant County, just don't pay it. Nothing happens.

[Acronym Esq]

I used to live next to a major intersection of 4 lanes at 35 mph and 4 lanes at 45 mph x 2 (for each side of the freeway). The intersection also had count down walk signals that had no relation to the red light because of the amount of right on red turns (had to end the walk earlier than the yellow light). When the red light cameras and signs went up, the intersection became a nightmare. I saw people slam on their breaks and slide through stale yellows. I saw people stop at yellows. I saw people stop at greens because the count down walk signal ran out. Many of these were emergency type jump on the brakes stops. There were rear end accidents at that intersection every other day.

There were other consequences too. Often the cameras issued citations to left hand turns with green because the camera couldn't tell the difference between someone running a red and making the wide left. If all the traffic didn't make it through the intersection and the light turned red, everyone even close to sticking into the intersection got a ticket. I once had the choice of 16 hours dealing with a bad red light ticket to let the ambulance by or staying put waiting for the green. Wanna guess which one I chose?

IMHO, red light cameras make the intersection more dangerous, not less. Strict enforcement of traffic laws is an expression of the ultimate nanny state.

acronym 4/15/2017 11:25 PM

[bagman45]

Get rid of ALL of them!!! Complete revenue grab. Do a bit of research; most are issued for failure to come to a complete stop while turning right on a red light. No danger to anyone, but annoying and expensive for those who choose to pay them....