Red-Light Cameras

Answers to the Questions

1. Why do your cameras, if your claim is true that they stop red-light running, never stop red-light running?

    

   Answer.  Red-light running is a product of bad engineering, not bad driver behavior.   Cameras are an enforcement tactic.   Enforcement treats driver behavior.   The cameras treat the wrong thing.  Fixing the engineering is required, not fixing driver behavior.     Cameras cannot prevent red-light running.   
   
   When confronted, the red-light camera man admits the shortcoming but then asserts that "the cameras prevent repeat offenders."   But this is also a lie.   What really happens is that after drivers get ticketed by a camera, drivers find alternate routes to their destinations.   The drivers avoid red-light camera intersections.      
   
   After a few years, cities will publicize that the cameras have affected a significant decrease in crashes and/or red-light running.    They get this information from the red-light camera company or the police department.   But decreases were caused by traffic engineers changing the signal, not by the cameras.   The engineers deliberately do not inform the police or city council of intersection changes.    The engineers do not advertise improvements because improvements imply that the engineers were responsible for the previous crashes and red-light running.
    

2. Why are you showing us just the T-bone crash videos? What do typical red-light running videos look like?

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   Answer.  Typical videos show a vehicle entering the intersection just as the light turns red.    You can watch the video over and over again and never be able to tell whether the car ran a red light.   You cannot discern whether the car's front bumper crossed over the stop bar after the light turned red.   (70%+ of all red-light runners occur within 1 second of the light turning red.)   Watch typical red-light runners in exhibit 01.

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3. What is the ratio between T-bone crashes videos and videos showing a driver who safely traverses the intersection yet receives a ticket anyway?

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   Answer.   For 1 T-bone, there are 99,888 safe red-light runners.   Suffolk County, NY 2015 Red-Light Camera Safety Report.  

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4. Given that drivers drive with the same ability no matter where they drive, does it make sense that drivers cause a higher crash rate at a particular intersection?

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   Answer.  No.  Drivers drive with equal ability regardless where they drive.  Higher crash rates are caused by poorer engineering.       Engineers are the leading cause of crashes.  Not drivers.   Drivers do not suddenly become suicidal at specific intersections.    You will discover that higher crash rates can easily happen at intersections with less traffic.

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5. Why do you want to install cameras at intersections without safety problems?

    

   Answer.   Because traffic engineers design intersections to deliberately make drivers run red lights while at the same time, prevent drivers from crashing.    Crashes are an indication of an engineering problem, but not necessarily an indication of how many people are running red lights.    Coming as a surprise to many, the legal motion of traffic and the safe motion of traffic are apples and oranges.     The traffic engineer knows this.   The red-light camera man knows this.   You do not know this.
    
   While the camera man talks about safety, his hidden agenda is the legal motion of traffic.    His pitch is misrepresentation.
   
    

6. What are the properties of an approach to an intersection which makes it especially profitable?

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Answer.   The most profitable approaches are those where the most vehicles must slow down before entering the intersection.  That's the failure caused by the yellow light math.    Watch exhibit 02.  Approaches ripe for profit have left-turns, right-turns, U-turns, and/or reduced speeds on the other side of the intersection.   Profitable approaches have businesses nearby the intersection where vehicles on the road must slow down for vehicles entering and egressing from the businesses.    Popular for profit in large cities are approaches with close-by intersections.  Drivers approach an intersection with a green light but have to slow down for the next traffic signal that has a red light.  Also, approaches that have permanent  obstacles on the roadway are prime pickings.   Railroad tracks are a favorite of Washington State.   Speed bumps are a favorite in Ireland.

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There are several engineering defects other than the yellow light which make an approach profitable.   85th percentile speed limit on road is greater than the posted limit.   Line-of-sight issues.    Signal heads without backplates.   Information clutter behind signal.   The list goes on.

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7.  Why does your company offer to practice engineering or practice engineering without a license?

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Answer.   If a company intends to install red-light cameras , the red-light camera installation plans must be drawn by a professional engineer licensed in your state.    Installation plans contain explicit engineering and land surveying elements.   Red-light cameras are not just "cameras on a stick."    Your state also may require the company be licensed or hold a certificate of authority to practice engineering.  

I have found that the unlicensed practice of engineering seems to be the rule, not the exception, in the photo-enforcement industry.    Verra Mobility, Redflex and Conduent have been caught  practicing engineering without a license.     These companies know they break the law, and don't care.     

The unlawful operation of the cameras neither stops companies nor cities from operating the cameras.   There is too much money in it.  When caught red-handed by Boards of Engineers, government conspires with its various subdivisions in order to keep harvesting money and to save face.    For examples, watch exhibit 04.