Add “no revenue sharing with companies selling cameras” and you probably have it.

If the cameras became expensive to maintain the program would probably go away.

If the issue were really about safety, eliminate the camera’s all together and have a three second delay from red to green like they do in Canada. The problem is the politicians and the companies that promote their camera usage never cared about our safety they only cared about their revenue.

These cameras need to go, period.

If it is truly about safety and not about revenue, then there should be a provision that no one profits from the issuing of tickets, not the camera company, not the municipality. (For instance, the money collected could go to some independent, non-profit, driving-related organization or charitable cause.) Otherwise, if the municipality is making money off it, the breeding of resentment toward law enforcement is not worth it.

Also, if justice is to be maintained, then the driver must be clearly and unmistakeably identified on the photo, since the violation must be done by a person not a vehicle. The accused person needs to receive a copy of the photo before paying.

Since these things will not happen, and since it really is about revenue not safety, I am opposed to red-light cameras.

I basically agree. It’s fine if they are busting gross offenders, but given that the camera company provides the service for a percentage of the ticket $$, it’s wide open to be money first and safety second. Every now and then, a light goes yellow and a driver is unsure, they slam on their brakes and get rear ended. Sure the blame goes on the “tail-gater”, BUT it’s the camera that made the difference and changed a common mistake into a potentially injurious and expensive accident. Again, if they enforce it on gross offenders (who ENTERED on a red light), fine, but no one has assured citizens that a minor mistake (it goes red before you exit the intersection) won’t result in a $100++ fine.

This legislation lays out good regulation of the red light cameras on a statewide basis while giving local governments final decisions, including whether the cameras work in their communities. To me it is a matter of safety. Do not run a red light and you will have no problem with the red light cameras.

Interestingly, the leadership and news media of Kansas City have embraced the new red light cameras there. Check out this column today in the Kansas City Star.

http://www.kansascity.com/115/story/1194024.html

As usual, St. Louis’ blockheads who put others’ safety in danger are the loudest in protesting common sense public safety initiatives.

Does anyone know if any new inforcements have been passed to get people to pay their red light tickets in St. Louis City? I received a red light ticket about a month ago. I was behind a school bus in traffic and couldn’t see until I was almost all the way through that the light that it had turned red. I researched on the Internet and found that there were no reprocussions for not paying these tickets but that they were trying to pass laws to change this. Does anyone know the current status? If I can avoid paying the rediculous $100 fine, that would be wonderful. I can use the more towards other, legitimate, bills I need to pay.