Today while coming home from the post office just down the street, I have to pass by just one single intersection with a red light camera cause I dont have far to go, but the timing on those intersection lights is no different from the camera standard lights. just as I started to go and got my front end about 2 or 3 feet into the intersection when I got my green, the light immediately turned yellow, I punched it, and it turned red before I could clear the intersection, Mind you My vehicle ain't no slow hunk of junk. Thankfully this intersection is not a camera Intersection, I've been living here about 3 years now, and can count at least 20 different situations exactly like this.
In the surrounding towns we get lots of truck traffic and we have lots of red light cameras I'm currently searching for work so I often venture out of my little rural area where I don't have to worry about these cameras where I live, but in areas I go looking for work.
I've always thought redlight cameras should be banned, or the time a light stays yellow trippled so that even big trucks that enter an intersection as soon as a light turns green can cross before it turns red again, all the time though I see vehicles getting snapped with these camera's a vehicle enters on a green as soon as its green, and the light is quickly to yellow then red before they're crossed and a picture is snapped, worse yet, this is happening to quick little cars, I wonder how a lot of these truck drivers can afford to work because their chance in getting caught in one of these traps is 10x worse, and they didn't do anything wrong, the system is setup against them.Also a neighbor of mine was recently talking about receiving one of these tickets, she describes it as waiting at the intersection and the light turning green, entering and the light jumping straight to red, I don't think a lighting system would have done this, and I wasn't with her so I cant verify her claims, however, I can tell what probably happened, she was probably at the front of the intersection, she saw green, and went first, then checked side to side as entering the intersection as many drivers do to make sure nobodies running the light which may hit them, missed the light as it turned yellow, saw the flash, and realized it turned red before they had a chance to clear, my neighbor drives a little minivan too, all lights when turning yellow should allow someone stopped at the intersection to pick up speed and clear the intersection, and should stay yellow long enough to allow the clearing to happen even if its a big slow vehicle such as a truck passing through, so legally I do truly consider red light camera's a money making scheme for the cities, to entrap innocent drivers and I'm close to finished with the rant, but not quite done, but I might like to note, I have yet to be caught by one of these, but that's all a matter of chance, I've been lucky so far to only have this happen to me in regular intersections, but ive seen it in red light intersections and know the timing is no different on those lights making them a trap.
What's worse about this? I know I'm far from the only person that thinks this of them or realizes it in passing. Oftentimes when someone is coming up on an intersection and reaches that point of no return where you are unable to stop for the intersection(even doing the speed limit this is trouble) a light turns yellow, and they are left with no choice but to stomp on their gas, some vehicles having longer stopping ranges than others, need it to stay yellow longer to get through, so in turn in order to save themselves from a ticket, then need to stomp on that gas and go zipping through, I even do this but exercise caution when doing so and leave plenty of space around everything, but not everyone does, many people panic when they see themselves being setup by this system, the result? they pay more attention to the trap and less attention to whats around them. Occasionally leading to serious wrecks. A camera in an automated system cant understand a situation, and oftentimes a traffic officer can and will let you go when the light switches in a improper timing with the way the system is setup drivers are often entrapped, abolishing traffic lights will do several things which are good, They will reduce the accidents they cause which their intended to reduce, they will make driving safer as there will be less people gunning it to beat the camera which causes accident more often than people just running them, If a persons gonna run a red their gonna run a red, how dangerous they are depends on how fast their going and how much their keeping an eye on the road, and off topic but still on topic all at the same time, abolishing traffic lights will improve the economy by keeping money in the hands of the working person rather than cities absorbing it from by adjusting the timing on their lighting systems to entrap drivers.
