Panel Recommends Traffic Enforcement Cameras for Budget Shortfall

[PAHighways]

The panel studying ways to fill the pothole in Pennsylvania's transportation budget has put forth a proposal to generate $2.7 billion a year for transportation improvements.  Their recommendation is to allow red light cameras at intersections and speed cameras in construction zones.  They say the latter would not only save lives, but save up to $2 million annually because state police troopers wouldn't have to sit in their cruisers at work zones to slow traffic down.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/regional/s_754070.html

[rickmastfan67]

Their recommendation is to allow red light cameras at intersections

Haven't they learned from other places on red light cameras?  They are going to LOSE money on them.

[froggie]

Not really.  Most places I'm aware of (including DC and Montgomery County around here) have made a fair bit of money on red light cameras.  What this does more is show that it's not about safety...it's about the revenue.

[PAHighways]

They won't lose money around me since traffic signals, and stop signs, have become suggestions.

[Brandon]

Not really.  Most places I'm aware of (including DC and Montgomery County around here) have made a fair bit of money on red light cameras.  What this does more is show that it's not about safety...it's about the revenue.

On the other hand, around Chicago they've become money-losing propositions.  Naperville, which has a bunch of these things, is expecting a budget shortfall.  Why?  The cameras are bringing in nowhere near as much as promised.  A number of municipalities, including Schaumburg, have dumped or turned off the things.  As for speed cameras, it's been several years since I've seen one in a construction zone.  Even the current I-80 construction zone lacks them.  My guess is that it costs more to man them and keep them running than they bring in.

[Mr_Northside]

Not that it's gonna make a difference, but I'm stating that I'm officially against this crap.

I don't really mind when surveillance cameras are used, after the fact, to help find perpetrators of more heinous acts (A year or two ago, cameras on a corner building of an intersection just up the hill helped identify some people who murdered a retired firefighter... That use of cameras I have NO problem with).... I don't like when they're used pro-actively as a "cop replacement".  I guess I'm just old-fashioned like that.

But even more than that, I don't like the notion that the ticket is simply issued to the vehicles owner.  If Mr. X runs a red light, then the citation should be issued to Mr. X. 

[MASTERNC]

As a driver who has been through Maryland, speed cameras are popping up like wildflowers down there.  The cameras run 24/7 in work zones, even when workers are not present or there are no encroachments into traffic lanes (i.e. lane shifts).  The cameras are supposed to be randomly rotated but I have seen them in nearly all the signed work zones I have been through in the past month (some have one camera in each direction).

Clearly it is a money grab, especially with some questions as to accuracy, especially with some of the ones used in school zones in MD.  The guidelines are too broad, allowing towns to add new school zones where children rarely venture (any road within 1/2 mile of a school can have a camera).  I would hope the GOP-controlled legislature would balk at any expansion of a "Big Brother" program.

[froggie]

@MASTERNC:  Maryland state law also stipulated that the work zone/school zone cameras cannot ticket you unless you're going at least 12 MPH over the speed limit.  That suggests to me that it isn't as much of a "money grab" as you claim it is.

[hbelkins]

@MASTERNC:  Maryland state law also stipulated that the work zone/school zone cameras cannot ticket you unless you're going at least 12 MPH over the speed limit.  That suggests to me that it isn't as much of a "money grab" as you claim it is.

That's good to know for the next time I'm in Maryland.

[MASTERNC]

@MASTERNC:  Maryland state law also stipulated that the work zone/school zone cameras cannot ticket you unless you're going at least 12 MPH over the speed limit.  That suggests to me that it isn't as much of a "money grab" as you claim it is.

True but that assumes the camera correctly picks up the speed.  Some of the laser-based units calculate the speed between two beams and photo or GPS evidence has suggested that some violators were not going more than 12 over.  The governments and camera manufacturers have sometimes refused to accept this evidence and even AAA has decried this particular type of camera.

[vdeane]

I would hope the GOP-controlled legislature would balk at any expansion of a "Big Brother" program.

Unfortunately, the GOP only balks at such stuff when the Democrats are in charge.

[MrDisco99]

froggie that stipulation is meaningless when MD can send you a picture of your car with whatever speed the camera mistakenly claims you were doing and make it as difficult as possible for you to challenge it.

http://www.stopbigbrothermd.org/search/label/camera%20errors

The only change that has resulted from the speed cameras there is an irrational increase in school zones.  Expect the same with consturction zones if PA decides to move ahead with this.

The DC government has actually complained about people slowing down for theirs.

[ShawnP]

I like to slow down for them and do a bit of non verbal communication with them.