I have a suggestion regarding the current proposed legislation that would
allow installing cameras at traffic light controlled intersections, and
issuing of tickets by mail to the owners of cars that run red lights.
If you saw the TV stations film of this, you may have noticed that a lot of
the examples they showed were times when the cross street with the green
light had absolutely no traffic on it.
I have frequently sat for 60 seconds or so at a red light, burning fossil
fuel, warming up the globe, while there is ZERO traffic on the cross street.
It seems to me that rather than trying to "catch" people running a red
light, and then collect fines from them, we should instead FIX THE LIGHTS
so that people don't have to wait when there is no traffic on the cross
street. The technology to do this is certainly available; it is already
installed at some intersections in Minneapolis.
I'd suggest that this legislation should be amended to --only-- allow
installation of a 'camera cop' at an intersection if they also install
automatic demand-driven switching on the lights at that intersection. This
would go beyond dealing with the symptom of red-light-running, to also deal
with the underlying problem of needless-red-light-waiting that causes
drivers to run red lights.
(Obviously, there would still be people who shortcut yellows and run red
lights. So fine, let the 'camera cop' catch & ticket them. They deserve
it. But give drivers a fair shot -- for every 'camera cop' installed also
install logic to turn the light green for drivers!)
There are other advantages (improved traffic flow, reduced fossil fuel
consumption, reduced global warming, etc.), but I think they're obvious
enough without going into details on them.
Tim Bonham, 12th Ward
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