One, Two, Three, 17,640; Red Light!
Drivers in Newport News, VA will be monitored by red light cameras as soon as next year– maybe. The snag? Money. The Daily Press reports that installing red light cameras at 18 intersections will cost the city around $882k. Just to recoup the initial investment, Newport News would need to snag 17,640 red-light runners at $50 a pop. Assistant Police Chief Dawn Barber puts a finer point on it: "And these are not tickets, but convictions.” City Manager Randy Hildebrandt gets the drift. "It won't be a money maker. I don't think we will be able to afford to have the equipment on all 18 intersections."
Glenn is a baby-boomer, born in 1954. Along with his wife, he makes his home in Connecticut. Employed in the public sector as an Information Tedchnology Specialist, Glenn has long been a car fan. Past rides have included heavy iron such as a 1967 GTO, to a V8 T-Bird. In between those high-horsepower cars, he's owned a pair of BMW 320i's. Now, with a daily commute of 40 miles, his concession to MPG dictates the ownership of a 2006 Honda Civic coupe which, while fun to drive, is a modest car for a pistonhead. As an avid reader, Glenn enjoys TTAC, along with many other auto-realated sites, and the occasional good book. As an avid electronic junkie, Glenn holds an Advanced Class amateur ("ham") radio license, and is into many things electronic. From a satellite radio and portable GPS unit in the cars, to a modest home theater system and radio-intercom in his home, if it's run by the movement of electrons, he's interested. :-)
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Ive got a buddy who was approaching a yellow light, in the winter. So he applied the brakes and found that it was a bit slippery and he wasn't going to be able to stop in time, so he decided to go through the yellow light (didn't have ABS it was a Topaz). Out of the corner of his eye he saw a cop sitting, waiting at the red in the intersection, so he decides to stop instead of running the yellow and getting the grief from the cop (this is all in split seconds of course). So he pumps the brakes and ends up stopped finally, in the middle of the intersection. Now the light turns red and he puts it in low and drives the rest of the way through the intersection...only to be pulled over by that cop for running a red! I've always said that I am sure there are tons of cops out there that are real people and have a soul...but you never meet them, you only meet the a-holes.
He could have easily contested that in court or talked to the prosecutor about the situation. Cops can be a$$hats at times but the court still needs to make the conviction and you are always gauranteed that chance.
The bright side of red light cameras is that they'll only ticket you if the light is red when you enter the intersection. Cops, on the other hand, will often ticket people for going through a yellow light.
rpn453, I don't think I've ever seen a cop go after a red light runner here in So Cal, much less someone blasting through a yellow. But then again, traffic law enforcement here seems patchy at best, and the behavior of most other motorists definitely reflects that...