160 MILLION in red light running and speeding from cameras Watch out in DC

[Texmaster]

IF you live in Washington DC watch out. New cameras catching speeders and red light runners are going up. Here is a scary quote:

"The city's contract with Lockheed Martin IMS, which designs and operates the systems, indicates the District is counting on sending out an estimated 80,000 new speeding tickets a month by the time the program is fully operational on Aug. 1. There were only 10,000 speeding tickets issued in all of last year in the District."

80,000 from 10,000. Big Jump. Big Headaches.

Camera fines may top $160 million

 

[Viper GTS]

Dammit that sucks.

I'm SO glad I don't live there. 144 per hour is nuts.

In spite of what they say, this is all about revenue.

:|

Viper GTS

 

[shifrbv]

I thought I saw on CNN where some people are getting a lawsuit together to fight this.

 

[ATLien247]

<< 80,000 from 10,000. Big Jump. Big Headaches. >>



Make that 80K x 12 months = 960K, up from 10K. Very big jump...

 

[bozo1]

Well, I don't link the speeding aspect of this but as far as the redlight running, I say go for it. Running a light has got to be the most dangerous thing.

 

[charrison]

I doubt they will get the 80k/month they are looking for. They might get that for the first couple of months, but people will be alot more carefull about speeding/running lights as time passes.

 

[Double Trouble]

If it was in any way related to increasing safety, I'd be all for it.... Unfortunately, it's all to clear that this is all about the cash, nothing more, nothing less.

 

[Freejack2]

I have a real problem with this. I have the feeling that people will get tickets for things that are supposed to be done. When you are turning left, when the light turns green you go out into the intersection and turn left when you can. What happens when you are a few feet into the intersection with 2 or 3 other cars and the light turns red. Will the camera just shoot you and send a ticket because your trying to clear the intersection. What about winter conditions. Say there is snow and your going down the road and the light is turning yellow, so you put on your brakes to stop but lo and behold the intersection area has ice in it and you end up sliding partially through the intersection till you can stop. Does the camera shoot you and send you a fine. I hear in virginia it's almost $300 for running a red light.
And also speeding? What will they be setting them at? Will you get a ticket for doing 31 in a 30? 35 in a 30?

On top of all that lets say a person tends to be a bit of a speeder and goes down a 30mph street late at night at say 37mph, will they know if they've been clocked? What if they don't know and say they do delivery and drive down this street 15 times during the night. Does this mean they'll be receiving 15 $300 speeding tickets. If so that's $4500 in fines. I know if I got 1 ticket I wouldn't be speeding for a while.

I'm sorry but all these devices are is revenue generators. They don't really care about speeders or red light runners, they just want the money. I can see a lot of areas lowering speed limits and reducing yellow light times to get more tickets.

 

[Doboji]

Well I hafta admit... I live in the DC metro area... and we kinda ignore all the traffic laws in the city... that and I've NEVER gotten a ticket in DC. Any other DCers out there actually follow the laws?... I know I dont....

And I sure wish we had the cameras yesterday so that this wouldnt have happened.

-Max

 

[Thanatopsis]

Freejack,

The cameras are smart enough to distinguish between you turning left and people running through red lights going straight. Also, the speed cameras (as they are set here in Denver) are usually set at 10-11 MPH over the posted speed limit. The cops are not going to stick you for a 1 mph speeding ticket.

The photo radar vans are only money generators if placed on the highway, at 10 mph over the limit. Usually, I see them placed on residential streets and school zones, where you have no right to speed through and then whine your ass off about the damn things not being &quot;fair&quot;.

 

[sharkeeper]

<< have a real problem with this. I have the feeling that people will get tickets for things that are supposed to be done. When you are turning left, when the light turns green you go out into the intersection and turn left when you can. What happens when you are a few feet into the intersection with 2 or 3 other cars and the light turns red. Will the camera just shoot you and send a ticket because your trying to clear the intersection. >>



The cameras are set to work with a red light only. If a light is yellow and turns red as your car goes through the intersection (early red or late yellow) a picture is NOT taken. In order to have a picture taken, the light MUST be RED BEFORE the front of the vehicle crosses the stop line. What it boils down to is this. If you get a ticket in the mail, you ran the light! Plain and simple. They clock speed but not for the purpose to issue speeding tickets. Here in MD they cannot issue a moving violation without positive ID of the driver because the charge is against the driver not the vehicle owner. OTOH, if someone borrows YOUR car and runs a light YOU are responsible for any red light violations!

Cheers!

 

[yakko]

Great idea. They should put them everywhere.

 

[RDMustang1]

my friend's father was killed by a truck who ran a red light, I hope they get these everywhere!

 

[Viper GTS]

The photo radar vans are only money generators if placed on the highway, at 10 mph over the limit. Usually, I see them placed on residential streets and school zones, where you have no right to speed through and then whine your ass off about the damn things not being &quot;fair&quot;.

That makes more sense, if they put them out on HW 26 with a +11 threshold, you'd be nailing people like mad. 11 over in a residential zone is just plain stupid though. Same thing with the assholes who run red lights.

Viper GTS

 

[Jfur]

in LA there was a major problem because people were in the car with another who was not their spouse... then, the ticket would arrive in the mail with photo evidence of the other person, sometimes in a very compromising position, and the spouse would open it. i don't know what ended up happening, but they were trying to fight it as an invasion of privacy.

 

[Lucky]

If you get a ticket in the mail, you ran the light! Plain and simple. They clock speed but not for the purpose to issue speeding tickets. Here in MD they cannot issue a moving violation without positive ID of the driver because the charge is against the driver not the vehicle owner. OTOH, if someone borrows YOUR car and runs a light YOU are responsible for any red light violations!


these things are terrible. You dont have a chance to fight the ticket like you would be able to confront an officer. You cant argue that there was extenuating circumstances that the camera does not show. They also dont discriminate based on who is driving, so if someone takes your car out for a spin, you are responsible for the tickets, not them. Thats a crock.

Also, there are multiple allegations that after the red light cameras were installed, yellow light times were reduced (in order to get a larger % of violators). Many allegations have been proven to have merit, and I believe in AZ they are sending out refunds of thousands of dollars based on this &quot;error&quot;.

Error my ass.

 

[PG]

in LA there was a major problem because people were in the car with another who was not their spouse... then, the ticket would arrive in the mail with photo evidence of the other person, sometimes in a very compromising position, and the spouse would open it. i don't know what ended up happening, but they were trying to fight it as an invasion of privacy.

Remings me of a Titus show...

 

[PG]

these things are terrible. You dont have a chance to fight the ticket like you would be able to confront an officer.

Bingo. You can't really argue with the picture. It's pretty clear cut and people can't whine or lie their way out of it. Many people are such liars that you you can't believe a word they say in court.
I think it's great and I wish those would be installed here in IL. Every day, and in fact at almost every intersection I see people run red lights.

 

[Stark]

I don't have a problem with it as long as there's a nice looooong yellow. The problem, it seems, is that every &quot;camera protected&quot; intersection has a .5 second yellow light. It's like they make the intersection more dangerous just to make a few extra bucks.