red light cameras

[Galapogos]

Not about wasting one minute of time. Driving is situational. That's why cops can give you a speeding ticket when you driving under the speed limit, but in their subjective perspective, over the speed that is "safe". It's also why they'll ticket you for slamming on your brakes if your wheels break the limit line with cars behind on an intersection to avoid going through a potential red light (go figure!). And the car behind should be "traveling at a safe enough distance" is IMHO (at least where I live...) a joke... Drive an LA freeway for a day and tell me how well that works out for you.

I'm not saying other drivers abide by it, I agree, they're awful for it. But I'm saying if you get into an accident because of it, it's their fault. For a cop to give you a ticket for driving under the limit you have to have been going REALLY under the limit, to the point that your slow speed is actually endangering other people. That's pretty hard to do.

Also, I have never heard of someone getting a ticket for slamming on their brakes to avoid running a red. My g/f got in an accident a few years ago because a guy in front of her slammed on his brakes to let someone onto the street who was trying to exit a 7-11 parking lot. That has to be one of the dumbest reasons to slam on your brakes. They both told the cop the story and he ticketed her and the insurance company put her at 100% fault because even though she wasn't tailgaiting she still wasn't far enough behind to react to the unexpected. The cop basically told the guy he was an idiot, but technically, she was the one at fault.

Slamming on brakes on a clear intersection to avoid an arbitrary automated ticket is horrible driving advice. Yeah, you get hit and it's not your fault... try getting rear-ended at 35 mph... I have, and it ain't fun.

I honestly don't know how you get in a situation where you have to slam on your brakes for a red light in a clear intersection going 35mph unless you screwed up in your judgement. Plus, if it's a stale yellow, the guy behind you should be well ready to stop as I'm sure it's not his plan to follow you through. And if it was his plan, I definitely don't see how you can be faulted for that.

That's why we have cops, and not just a million sensors. It's also why cops don't routinely ticket drivers going 5-10 miles over the speed limit on the freeway. If black and white made sense, they should be pulling people over as fast as they can fish 'em off the road... lord knows the state needs the money!

True, but they do have other duties and need to take on what they can handle. People would definitely not be going 5-10 miles over the limit if they knew the camera was watching and would be nailing them every time they made an infraction.

<bunch of stuff about cameras being ATMS>

I don't know exactly how much money they make off them. But if they are making a lot, I think it's awesome. They are making extra revenue by catching more people who are breaking the law. Would you rather a tax hike? People so often get away with small infractions they think it's their right to go 10mph over the limit or something.

I'm no traffic nit or anything like that. I do speed and I'm guilty of running the odd yellow if I'm late for something. But I do realize every time that if I'm caught it's my fault. And not the city scheming to get rich off poor 'lil me. If I don't want the "greedy" city to make money off me, I obey the rules of the road.