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Leave it to government to say a program is working when it's not.

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The entire story is full of examples that the red light cameras don't support themselves, then at the end, it is thrown in that they "continue to improve safety".

I doubt that. It would be the only city in which red light cams are used that this would be the case.

Albuquerque's cameras BTW are speed cameras too.

I recently heard (unverified) that several courts have thrown out red light camera tickets as unenforceable and declared that the city/private contractor cannot take additional legal actions to "collect the fines"(I.E., use extortion).

How exactly do you face your accuser when its a camera, the photo is sent to a processing facility, reviewed, and then sent on to law enforcement for issuance of a ticket? If I take a picture of someone running a red light and turn it in to police, wouldn't I have to appear?

While I am not entirely against them, I certainly lean that way. Most honest folks just don't go running red lights anyway. If the registration is invalid, plates stolen/forged, etc, they are not going to find the goober to ticket him anyway. It would be nice to get that guy off the road. The one that doesn't have to worry about the light because they won't catch him/her anyway. Same thing on toll roads. Stolen/forged plates=free pass.

Catch those folks and you'll have much safer roads, and more, I'll bet.

lonewolf wrote:How exactly do you face your accuser when its a camera, the photo is sent to a processing facility, reviewed, and then sent on to law enforcement for issuance of a ticket? If I take a picture of someone running a red light and turn it in to police, wouldn't I have to appear? ...

I used to live in ABQ so I'll tell you how they do it.
The video is fed to a montitoring station that is manned by police. All the tickets are reviewed and signed by an officer before being sent out.
I used to work at a company right around the corner from one of the cameras and our employees were getting these tickets often.
When you receive one you can contest it and have an administrative hearing on request. The system is pretty fair.
Also, when you receive the ticket you get a password and you can watch the full video of you running the light.
Every time someone got a ticket and we watched the video, they did not contest it.
I object to them because the cities that use them state that they are for safety and as a byproduct they generate huge sums of revenue. That's bunk.
After they are in place for some time and the revenue decreses, suddenly it's about revenue.
ABQ is not going to run a deficit to the tune of 50K a month for safety for long.
That's probably 8 or 9 officers off the streets a year.

lonewolf wrote:If the registration is invalid, plates stolen/forged, etc, they are not going to find the goober to ticket him anyway. It would be nice to get that guy off the road. The one that doesn't have to worry about the light because they won't catch him/her anyway. Same thing on toll roads. Stolen/forged plates=free pass.

Catch those folks and you'll have much safer roads, and more, I'll bet.

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I got a 'red light camera' ticket for running a red light in Lufkin last month. There it was, pretty as a picture, Mrs. Oldgringo's Expedition entering the intersection beside a stopped car as the light changed. I paid the $75 and made note to self: WAKE UP and PAY ATTENTION.

Sure, I could have contested it but it would have cost half the fine in travel costs even if I had prevailed. I figured a traffic ticket every 25 years does not a raging criminal make.

Some red light camera systems are not smart enough
to see a full stop, followed by a "right on red" turn.

A gentleman in <Arlington, Grand Prairie, TX?> viewed his
ticket-related video. He had made a textbook full stop,
then made a right on red.

The system took his photo and a ticket was issued.
Then he had to spend time and energy to dispute the ticket.
Sheesh.

SIA