Houston might be hot, muggy, and beauty challenged, but at least residents and city leaders there have enough sense there to get rid of red-light cameras.
Most Metroplex cities, including Fort Worth and Arlington, continue shoving those red-light cameras down our throats even though they do little to increase public safety, and, in my experience, actually create safety hazards.
Arlington is now considering joining a scofflaw program to make sure violators pay their $75 fines since, after all, generating income is what the cameras are really about.
Fort Worth, on the other hand, is trying new ways to increase revenues off the backs of motorists by charging them to park in huge, near-empty parking lots in the cultural district.
“Your experience” is not everyone’s experience. Some people can and do try to stop instead of attempting to beat the light through the intersection.
Yes, RLCs are revenue-generators, but they’re also placed in specific intersections for a good reason — they’re placed in areas where accidents have occurred where people have run red lights, with the notion that people will think twice about plowing through an intersection.
I totally get that some vehicles will have difficulty stopping when the light turns yellow. I have an issue with people who drive those types of vehicles without regard that they do weigh more, and have less stopping power, but drive them like they don’t have to consider the people around them or their surroundings. It feels like, to them, that public safety is secondary to getting from point A to point B in the fastest amount of time.
Yes RLC can be a way to make driving safe, but there are some insidious ways cities are trying to make more profit from them. I refer to REDUCING the time of the yellow so that you do not have a chance to stop if you are close to the intersection. There are “standards” based on the speed limit, but these are not used in many cases. Until this practice is stopped, I will not be a supporter of RLC.
Amen bro. Cities liek Dallas have been caught redhanded shortening those yellows so they can issue more tickets. That’s like robbing people except for when the city does it with red light cameras it is all ok. Yeah right.