Extra tax this week

[dixiedrifter]

I just found out today that there is actually a SPRAY that will keep you from getting caught by photo radar and lights.

http://www.radarbusters.com/news/current/indy-star.asp

Apparently on any camera that uses a flash to photgraph a plate, the stuff causes the plate to "shine" thus whiting it out.

Plus its invisible!!

 

[Slamfire]

Well, some states require you to stop before entering an intersection displaying a yellow signal light, and some don't. The "standard" timing of yellow lights is the first digit of the speed limit in seconds, i. e. Speed limit 35=3 second yellow light. I don't know what you'd do in a school zone with a 15 mph speed limit, 1 second hardly seems enough time for any yellow light.

 

[DiskDoctr]

Here's my BIG PROBLEM with red light cameras...

Since when should a private company get 70% of a traffic fine??? /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif This should be illegal, IMHO. Sort of like embezzling funds- private industry using gov't authority to levy fines on citizens.

If they are collectin 70%, then who is levying the fine? Is it the gov't (law enforcement, city, etc), or is it the private company- who is paying a commission to the gov't to be allowed to use their authority for their own purposes?

Here is an excerpt:

"Both Greensboro and High Point get $15 from every $50 red- light citation. City officials said money goes toward transportation safety programs, such as installing pedestrian walkway signs.

Peek Traffic, which installed and runs those red-light programs, gets $35 for each citation"

Here is the article: Traffic Cameras

IMHO, only the gov't should have the authority to levy fines. I can't setup my own speed trap and send fines to those I clock as speeding past my house /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif This would be absurd, but not that much of a stretch from the above situation...

Food for thought...

End of soapbox. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

-JC

 

[Junkman]

When the revenue goes down, what will that private company do, lobby for higher fines? Below is an excerpt from the news article. Business should not be in the law enforcement business, that is the role of government. If government is too lazy to operate these devices, then they shouldn't be installed. This company that installs and runs the system is nothing more than a vigilante organization in my opinion. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( City officials in Greensboro and High Point say the program is working to decrease red-light violations in their towns.

In Greensboro, 1,854 motorists received $50 citations in December, a 32 percent decline compared with December 2001, said Michael Cramer, who supervises Greensboro's red-light program.

High Point, which has 10 red-light cameras, saw a 42 percent decline in citations, according to Phil Wylie, director of the city's transportation department.

)</font>

 

[Gatorboy]

<font color="blue"> Well, some states require you to stop before entering an intersection displaying a yellow signal light, and some don't. </font>

Could you please tell me what states require this? I find it hard to believe because yellow means caution, not stop.

 

[Gatorboy]

<font color="blue"> If the light is very fast and the camera(s) get a picture of you in the intersection and the light having changed to red, I think it would be very hard to get out of a ticket they send you. Even if your right. </font>

The first picture would be taken when the RED starts, which would show you already IN the intersection, so I don't see how you could lose a case that shows you in the intersection BEFORE the red hit.

If you are turning left, and are in the middle of the intersection waiting for oncoming traffic to clear, and the light turns red -- you are not breaking any law -- because you now have the right of way. I have had this situation happen to me many times at red light camera intersections and have never gotten a ticket mailed to me. It was very clear I was IN the intersection when the light turned red, the first picture taken showed me IN the intersection prior to the red.

 

[Bird]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( If you are turning left, and are in the middle of the intersection waiting for oncoming traffic to clear, and the light turns red -- you are not breaking any law -- because you now have the right of way )</font>

I'd generally agree with you. At least we never wrote traffic tickets for anything like that. However, my mother once failed a driving test to get a drivers license when she did that; said the trooper stopped the exam right there and told her she failed for running a red light. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[Gatorboy]

<font color="blue"> said the trooper stopped the exam right there and told her she failed for running a red light. </font>

Sounds to me like someone should give at Trooper a Rules of the Road book. Unless there was plenty of time before the red for her to turn, she has control of that intersection and has the right of way to turn left even if the light is red. Only 1-car however can be in the intersection to turn left at a time. If there was already a car in the intersection to turn left and she was also in the intersection behind the first car, she could be at fault for running a red light in this case.

If you could not get into the intersection to turn left (on a non-arrow light), and traffic is really heavy, that lane would NEVER get any cars turning left.

Another legal turn which many people don't know is you can turn LEFT ON RED if the turn is onto a One-Way street from another One-Way street.

 

[NSBound]

Here in Ontario, this is what is printed in the Driver's Handbbook printed by the Province.

Yellow light
A yellow — or amber — light means the red light is about to appear. You must stop if you can do so safely; otherwise, go with caution.

 

[BillyP]

Traffic lights

TRAFFIC CONTROL AT INTERSECTIONS

Wisconsin

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

<font color="blue"> "Another legal turn which many people don't know is you can turn LEFT ON RED if the turn is onto a One-Way street from another One-Way street." </font>

Is that true everywhere?

 

[Gatorboy]

<font color="blue"> Is that true everywhere? </font>

I am almost positive it's true everywhere that Right on Red is allowed.

 

[Bird]

It is true in Texas now and has been for quite a few years, but of course, 40 years ago when I started in law enforcement, right on red was not allowed at all. As a matter of fact, I got a ticket for that when I was 18 or 19 years old. It was after midnight when I stopped for the red light, then turned right, with not a single vehicle or person in sight anywhere except that one black sedan right behind me (unmarked police car). /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[GerardC]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( <font color="blue"> Is that true everywhere? </font>

I am almost positive it's true everywhere that Right on Red is allowed. )</font>

It is here. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif G

 

[dixiedrifter]

In Tennessee, if your on a motorcycle, you can treat a red light like a stop sign.

They passed the law to help out in cities with radar activated lights.

Bikes are so small the red lights could not pick them up and would not change.

Its kinda fun stopping at a red light at night with a cop behind you, then just taking off whenever traffic clears.

 

[neilly2]

I rarely worry about getting ticketed through a red light. Unless you are speeding over 10 above the limit, the driver can judge if he can safely stop or if he should proceed through the light.

The time an amber light is on before turning red is proportional to the speed limit, and is an engineered equation that is part of the design of the road/intersection. If the amber is timed incorrectly (too short) it will create what is known as a "dilemma zone", or basically too short of a stopping distance before red. In this instant there is no safe decision. Again, if you are going too far over the speed limit, you are creating the dilemma zone yourself.

If I'm ever pulled over for this I will fight the ticket armed with my transportation engineering book from college. All you have to do is go out and time the amber. My guess is that most lights older than 5 years are out of timing.

 

[AndyM]

<font color="blue"> If you are turning left, and are in the middle of the intersection waiting for oncoming traffic to clear, and the light turns red -- you are not breaking any law -- because you now have the right of way. </font>

It drives me batty when I'm behind someone who is trying to make a left turn, and they insist on waiting behind the white line. Since they don't creep up into the intersection and make their turn as the light turns red, they sit through several light changes trying to make their left turn! /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

 

[Gatorboy]

<font color="blue"> and they insist on waiting behind the white line. </font>

I think these are the same people that drive in the left lane and don't get over when someone is coming up behind them.

I always wonder what they think the signs SLOWER TRAFFIC KEEP RIGHT means? They probably think it means slower than the speed limit -- WRONG!

 

[Junkman]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Is that true everywhere? )</font>

I remember when the country was in a fuel crisis.... the first one back in 1973. It was part of Jimmy's way of fixing the problem that the right turn on red was made mandatory for all the states to adopt to continue getting Federal Highway funds. The MA Director of Transportation didn't like the new rules imposed on the state, and put up signs at every intersection prohibiting right turn on red. This in theory was in compliance with the new rule. The state wasted a lot of money, because they were found to be "out of compliance" and had to remove the signs and allow the right turn on red at a certain percentage of the intersections. Today, how it is administered is more likely to be locally controlled, but I believe that the Federal law/regulation also still prevails. If you would like to learn more about the role of the Federal government in this area, the Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, has a web page that has lots of information. If you have the patience, you probably could find every regulation that they have on the site. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif There is a manual, "Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices" that is 750 pages and covers every situation possible...... well, almost... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif