PaulAdrian's Blog

who cares...if your doing what the law tells you to do, why would anyone care? If your not, you get popped for being stupid. Be accountable and go on about your day.

I am glad to see you investigated it and found out that:
1. You get the same BS explanation from the city traffic manager which she emailed to me when I had Councilwoman Angela Hunt check into this.
2. You confirm what I felt when they first put up red light cameras; that the time on the camera monitored lights was noticeably shorter than the time on lights just one block away and that the time on all lights seems to have decreased in recent years.

I have not gotten a red light citation and consider myself a good driver. I used to drive a limousine and took defensive driving regularly not because I had to but to improve my awareness of the attitudes of other drivers.

I agree wholeheartedly with the conclusion of the Insurance Institute and TxDOT that increasing the length of time of the yellow light would significantly decrease the number of accidents and violations.

I also think that placing those count down to yellow timers which they have on commerce street at all camera monitored intersections would vastly increase the safety of these intersections.

I suggested this to Senator Corona when they were considering red light camera legislation; along with the suggestion that such dangerous intersections should have a mandated minimum yellow light duration which exceeds standards by at least one or two seconds. He obviously ignored my suggestion just as he forgot to include appropriation of the monies to Trauma centers in the legislation.

I once again praise Councilwoman Angela Hunt who did listen and managed to get one of the count down timers installed

I think they are shorter! Sometimes I worry the dang thing will change when I'm half way through the intersection. But it is necessary. How many wrecks do you see when some idiot runs a light and smacks another driver?

Scotty:
I guess that you never been broadsided cause someone wanted to see if they could beat the red. I'm in favor. If you get a ticket in the mail for running a red light. It tells me and others like me that were victims to red light runners. Good I glad that there are cameras. I'm tire of people running stop signs and running red lights. Not staying focus on driving.

I had a very good friend killed by a red light runner. They were a very good person and would have brought joy to many in their life.

If I'am not mistaken, red light runners kill more people than any other drivers.

If we were truly talking about Safety than Revenue then the issue would how do we improve the condition.

One thing that is done in some countries is a traffic light has a Flashing Caution prior to the Solid Caution then goes to Red.

The addition of a flashing caution forewarns the traffic that the light is preparing to change from Green to Caution.

Heavy trucks or people pulling trailers require greater stopping distances thus need additional warning. People would know as they approach an intersection that they would have the necessary time to clear the intersection.

There wwas this one guy tried to get aa case that he ran a red light and it was throw out. He ended up paying not only the fine, but plus he had to pay court cost too. The judge stated that the camera s were legal and so was justiflied.

I LOVE the red light cameras to death! I love laughing at those people who get flashed because it's not fair that just because those people were in a hurry and think they're above the law, they can run the lights. No, you're no better than anyone else, and if you break the law, you gonna have to pay.

As far as the comment made about the cameras in public places, I like them. You can catch drug deals on cameras and if someone gets killed on the street or robbed, it's caught too.

I personally say they can video tape me all they want out in public, and you won't catch me doing anything wrong. If anything, it would help me feel safer!

I think my chief objection is two fold.
First they use a formula to determine the length of the yellow light which as far as I can tell does not include any consideration of the size of the intersection . IE you are expected to clear a six lane intersection with median in the same time as you would be expected to clear a two lane intersection with no median while traveling at the same speed. This is physically impossible and makes absolutely no sense. If they are going to use a formula they need to include some factor which adds extra time to the yellow for larger intersections so that you can safely clear the intersection if you enter on green and the light turns yellow. As others have pointed out there are several cases where if you start the left turn or enter the intersection from a stop because the guy in front of you turned right and the light is green but turns yellow just after you enter the intersection it is not yellow long enough to clear the intersection.
Secondly as the investigative report showed, despite assurances from the city traffic manager there are disparities in the length of yellow lights on identical intersections one block apart on the same street; with the one with a red light camera consistently being 1.5 to 2 seconds shorter.
If the true aim were to improve public safety and not just make money they would listen to TXDOT and The Insurance Institute (who are obviously interested in decreasing the number of accidents since they have to pay out for them) and lengthen the duration of yellow lights ; especially at an intersection which has su