6 Cities That Were Caught Shortening Yellow Light Times For Profit
08-26-09, 12:18 PM
#1
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6 Cities That Were Caught Shortening Yellow Light Times For Profit
6 Cities That Were Caught Shortening Yellow Light Times For Profit
March 26th, 2008 Posted in Red-Light Cameras, Yellow Light Duration
Short yellow light times at intersections have been shown to increase the number of traffic violations and accidents. Conversely, increasing the yellow light duration can dramatically reduce red-light violations at an intersection.
Some local governments have ignored the safety benefit of increasing the yellow light time and decided to install red-light cameras, shorten the yellow light duration, and collect the profits instead.
Here are some of the cities that have been caught with short yellow light times over the past few years:
Important note: These news stories were collected from the archives of TheNewspaper.com, an excellent resource for anyone interested in traffic laws and other motorist issues. If you subscribe to TheNewspaper.com’s feed, you’ll never miss the latest news. It makes an excellent complement to this blog.
1) Chattanooga, Tennessee
The city of Chattanooga was forced refund $8800 in red light cameras tickets issued to motorists trapped by an illegally short yellow time. The refund only occurred after a motorist challenged his citation by insisting that the yellow light time of 3.0 seconds was too short. LaserCraft, the private vendor that runs the camera program in return for a cut of the profits, provided the judge with a computer database that asserted the yellow was 3.8 seconds at that location.
The judge then personally checked the intersection in question was timed at three seconds while other nearby locations had about four seconds of yellow warning. City traffic engineer John Van Winkle told Bean that “a mix up with the turn arrow” was responsible and that the bare minimum for the light should be 3.9 seconds.
Read the Full Story
2) Dallas, Texas
An investigation by KDFW-TV, a local TV station, found that of the ten cameras that issued the greatest number of tickets in the city, seven were located at intersections where the yellow duration is shorter than the bare minimum recommended by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT).
The city’s second highest revenue producing camera, for example, was located at the intersection of Greenville Avenue and Mockingbird Lane. It issued 9407 tickets worth $705,525 between January 1 and August 31, 2007. At the intersections on Greenville Avenue leading up to the camera intersection, however, yellows are at least 3.5 or 4.0 seconds in duration, but the ticket-producing intersection’s yellow stands at just 3.15 seconds. That is 0.35 seconds shorter than TxDOT’s recommended bare minimum. Dallas likewise installed the cameras at locations with existing short yellow times. A total of twenty-one camera intersections in Dallas had yellow times below TxDOT’s bare minimum recommended amount.
The ticket camera program in Dallas made the news recently for shutting down some of its cameras because they were no longer profitable.
Read the Full Story
3) Springfield, Missouri
The city of Springfield, Missouri prepared for the installation of a red light camera system in 2007 by slashing the yellow warning time by one second at 105 state-owned intersection signals across the city.
The city defended its effort to the Springfield News-Leader by claiming it was “standardizing” and had increased the yellow time at 136 city-operated lights to meet national standards. During the city council meeting last October where the red light camera ordinance was approved, however, Assistant Director of Public Works Earl Newman gave a different explanation for the reduction. Newman said he was, “concerned that many individuals run the light if the light remained yellow too long.”
Read the Full Story
4) Lubbock, Texas
KBCD, a local television station, exposed the city’s short timing of yellow lights at eight of the twelve intersections where the devices were to be installed.
Prior to the news investigation, Lubbock City Engineer Jere Hart assured city council members that he would not increase yellow times. According to the city council’s traffic commission minutes of September 19, 2006, Jere said, “if [the red light camera program is] implemented, the public would prefer to have an increased amber cycle,” but he stated that, “the program will not adjust the amber/yellow time.”
Shortly after the investigation became public, red-light cameras were installed in Lubbock. However, after they proved to be both unprofitable (due in part to a new state law giving 50% of the ticket camera profit to the state) and unsafe (accidents increased where the cameras were installed), they were taken down.
Read the Full Story
5)Nashville, Tennessee
Even without red light cameras, police in Nashville, Tennessee have been earning hundreds of thousands in revenue by trapping motorists in conventional ticket traps at city intersections with the shortest yellow warning time.
In 2006, Nashville resident Joe Savage obtained the data on every red light running ticket issued on Broadway street since 2000. He said that yellow lights are longer at intersections along Broadway until the areas where police are issuing tickets. At those locations, Savage clocked the yellow signal time at less than 3 seconds, in violation of both state law and federal regulations. A local newspaper, The Nashville Scene, then confirmed his findings.
Read the Full Story
6) Union City, California
In 2005, Union City, California was caught trapping motorists with a yellow signal time 1.3 seconds below the minimum established by state law. As a result, the city was forced to refund more than $1 million in red light camera fines.
The city’s violation came to light after Dave Goodson, an engineer, received a ticket and realized that he did not have sufficient time to stop before the light had turned red. As a result of his inquiries, Union City’s traffic engineers admitted that they had set the yellow signal time at Union City Boulevard and Lowry Road at 3 seconds, despite the state law mandating the time be 4.3 seconds or greater.
Authorities said that the yellow was too short long before the cameras were installed, but that no effective system was in place to verify the timing of the traffic signals despite their direct impact on safety.
Read the Full Story
Closing Notes:
These are only the cities that have been caught; it’s likely that this happens much more than the general public has been led to believe. Many cities avoid the bad publicity involved with shortening yellow lights by installing the cameras at intersections with inadequate yellow light times from the beginning.
If you or a family member receive an unjustified red-light violation ticket, it may be worth your time to check the yellow light duration at the intersection where the ticket was given out.
http://www.motorists.org/blog/6-citi...es-for-profit/
March 26th, 2008 Posted in Red-Light Cameras, Yellow Light Duration
Short yellow light times at intersections have been shown to increase the number of traffic violations and accidents. Conversely, increasing the yellow light duration can dramatically reduce red-light violations at an intersection.
Some local governments have ignored the safety benefit of increasing the yellow light time and decided to install red-light cameras, shorten the yellow light duration, and collect the profits instead.
Here are some of the cities that have been caught with short yellow light times over the past few years:
Important note: These news stories were collected from the archives of TheNewspaper.com, an excellent resource for anyone interested in traffic laws and other motorist issues. If you subscribe to TheNewspaper.com’s feed, you’ll never miss the latest news. It makes an excellent complement to this blog.
1) Chattanooga, Tennessee
The city of Chattanooga was forced refund $8800 in red light cameras tickets issued to motorists trapped by an illegally short yellow time. The refund only occurred after a motorist challenged his citation by insisting that the yellow light time of 3.0 seconds was too short. LaserCraft, the private vendor that runs the camera program in return for a cut of the profits, provided the judge with a computer database that asserted the yellow was 3.8 seconds at that location.
The judge then personally checked the intersection in question was timed at three seconds while other nearby locations had about four seconds of yellow warning. City traffic engineer John Van Winkle told Bean that “a mix up with the turn arrow” was responsible and that the bare minimum for the light should be 3.9 seconds.
Read the Full Story
2) Dallas, Texas
An investigation by KDFW-TV, a local TV station, found that of the ten cameras that issued the greatest number of tickets in the city, seven were located at intersections where the yellow duration is shorter than the bare minimum recommended by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT).
The city’s second highest revenue producing camera, for example, was located at the intersection of Greenville Avenue and Mockingbird Lane. It issued 9407 tickets worth $705,525 between January 1 and August 31, 2007. At the intersections on Greenville Avenue leading up to the camera intersection, however, yellows are at least 3.5 or 4.0 seconds in duration, but the ticket-producing intersection’s yellow stands at just 3.15 seconds. That is 0.35 seconds shorter than TxDOT’s recommended bare minimum. Dallas likewise installed the cameras at locations with existing short yellow times. A total of twenty-one camera intersections in Dallas had yellow times below TxDOT’s bare minimum recommended amount.
The ticket camera program in Dallas made the news recently for shutting down some of its cameras because they were no longer profitable.
Read the Full Story
3) Springfield, Missouri
The city of Springfield, Missouri prepared for the installation of a red light camera system in 2007 by slashing the yellow warning time by one second at 105 state-owned intersection signals across the city.
The city defended its effort to the Springfield News-Leader by claiming it was “standardizing” and had increased the yellow time at 136 city-operated lights to meet national standards. During the city council meeting last October where the red light camera ordinance was approved, however, Assistant Director of Public Works Earl Newman gave a different explanation for the reduction. Newman said he was, “concerned that many individuals run the light if the light remained yellow too long.”
Read the Full Story
4) Lubbock, Texas
KBCD, a local television station, exposed the city’s short timing of yellow lights at eight of the twelve intersections where the devices were to be installed.
Prior to the news investigation, Lubbock City Engineer Jere Hart assured city council members that he would not increase yellow times. According to the city council’s traffic commission minutes of September 19, 2006, Jere said, “if [the red light camera program is] implemented, the public would prefer to have an increased amber cycle,” but he stated that, “the program will not adjust the amber/yellow time.”
Shortly after the investigation became public, red-light cameras were installed in Lubbock. However, after they proved to be both unprofitable (due in part to a new state law giving 50% of the ticket camera profit to the state) and unsafe (accidents increased where the cameras were installed), they were taken down.
Read the Full Story
5)Nashville, Tennessee
Even without red light cameras, police in Nashville, Tennessee have been earning hundreds of thousands in revenue by trapping motorists in conventional ticket traps at city intersections with the shortest yellow warning time.
In 2006, Nashville resident Joe Savage obtained the data on every red light running ticket issued on Broadway street since 2000. He said that yellow lights are longer at intersections along Broadway until the areas where police are issuing tickets. At those locations, Savage clocked the yellow signal time at less than 3 seconds, in violation of both state law and federal regulations. A local newspaper, The Nashville Scene, then confirmed his findings.
Read the Full Story
6) Union City, California
In 2005, Union City, California was caught trapping motorists with a yellow signal time 1.3 seconds below the minimum established by state law. As a result, the city was forced to refund more than $1 million in red light camera fines.
The city’s violation came to light after Dave Goodson, an engineer, received a ticket and realized that he did not have sufficient time to stop before the light had turned red. As a result of his inquiries, Union City’s traffic engineers admitted that they had set the yellow signal time at Union City Boulevard and Lowry Road at 3 seconds, despite the state law mandating the time be 4.3 seconds or greater.
Authorities said that the yellow was too short long before the cameras were installed, but that no effective system was in place to verify the timing of the traffic signals despite their direct impact on safety.
Read the Full Story
Closing Notes:
These are only the cities that have been caught; it’s likely that this happens much more than the general public has been led to believe. Many cities avoid the bad publicity involved with shortening yellow lights by installing the cameras at intersections with inadequate yellow light times from the beginning.
If you or a family member receive an unjustified red-light violation ticket, it may be worth your time to check the yellow light duration at the intersection where the ticket was given out.
http://www.motorists.org/blog/6-citi...es-for-profit/
08-26-09, 12:24 PM
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Honestly, I'm surprised Philly isn't on there. The cops are crooked. My brother was just rear ended in center city and the police officer altered his statement so that he took the blame. And of course, they refuse to examine the footage from the traffic cams. Furthermore, about ten years ago cops started writing fake tickets and mailing them to people. A little old lady was accused of drag racing in her Escort as why a man in his 30s was mailed a similar ticket. He had a Camry wagon, real drag racing machine. I knew someone who got one of these tickets and the plates on her ticket werent the plates on her car. She ignored it and the problem went away. ...anyway, crooked!!!
08-26-09, 12:30 PM
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Honestly, I'm surprised Philly isn't on there. The cops are crooked. My brother was just rear ended in center city and the police officer altered his statement so that he took the blame. And of course, they refuse to examine the footage from the traffic cams. Furthermore, about ten years ago cops started writing fake tickets and mailing them to people. A little old lady was accused of drag racing in her Escort as why a man in his 30s was mailed a similar ticket. He had a Camry wagon, real drag racing machine. I knew someone who got one of these tickets and the plates on her ticket werent the plates on her car. She ignored it and the problem went away. ...anyway, crooked!!!
08-26-09, 01:05 PM
#6
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LaserCraft, the private vendor that runs the camera program in return for a cut of the profits
Some local governments have ignored the safety benefit of increasing the yellow light time and decided to install red-light cameras, shorten the yellow light duration, and collect the profits instead.
08-26-09, 01:06 PM
#7
Lexus Fanatic
I'm not surprised at all.
A few years ago a big-name vendor hawking this machinery was gaming the prototype systems in order to make it financially more attractive to the cities considering purchases, again at the expense of the citizen.
A few years ago a big-name vendor hawking this machinery was gaming the prototype systems in order to make it financially more attractive to the cities considering purchases, again at the expense of the citizen.
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08-26-09, 02:14 PM
#9
Lexus Fanatic
All the more reason to keep your speed down when approaching a light. The slower you are going (within reason, of course), the quicker you can stop, on a yellow cycle, if you have to......even if it has been shortened. And, as far as tickets are concerned, in general, you will NOT get a ticket if you enter the intersection on the yellow cycle and the light turns red after you are past the line. The cameras are set up so that they only trigger when the light is already red, and you pass the line going over a certain speed (I don't remember that that speed is). Because of the way they set up the sensors, if a camera shows you, on a red light, past the line in the intersection, but STOPPED, chances are it won't flash you. It's designed to (primarily) get those who make a deliberate run through the intersection after the light is red....or about to turn red.
Having said that, cities and municipalities have to abide by state law in setting their yellow cycles, and, if they are found to be deliberately cutting that cycle down, then, of course, should have to answer for it. The first step, of course, is ticket refunds....I agree with that. Points on the license are generally not involved, since, by law, the tickets do not involve points (the cameras usually cannot record who was actually driving, so they mail the ticket to the car's registered owner).
Having said that, cities and municipalities have to abide by state law in setting their yellow cycles, and, if they are found to be deliberately cutting that cycle down, then, of course, should have to answer for it. The first step, of course, is ticket refunds....I agree with that. Points on the license are generally not involved, since, by law, the tickets do not involve points (the cameras usually cannot record who was actually driving, so they mail the ticket to the car's registered owner).
08-26-09, 02:58 PM
#10
Pole Position
It's California statute that says a yellow light must be 1 second for every mile per hour of the posted speed limit. If the speed limit is 45 MPH, the yellow light must be 4.5 seconds long. Of course, this doesn't keep them from cheating, only that there is a standard "rule" in place.
08-26-09, 05:30 PM
#11
Lexus Fanatic
Well, mabe (?) that's what keeping them from shortening the signals in the first place. Technicians, especially those who are paid directly by the state, aren't going to go out there and adjust them for free. They expect a paycheck.
08-26-09, 10:32 PM
#13
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All the more reason to keep your speed down when approaching a light. The slower you are going (within reason, of course), the quicker you can stop, on a yellow cycle, if you have to......even if it has been shortened. And, as far as tickets are concerned, in general, you will NOT get a ticket if you enter the intersection on the yellow cycle and the light turns red after you are past the line. The cameras are set up so that they only trigger when the light is already red, and you pass the line going over a certain speed (I don't remember that that speed is). Because of the way they set up the sensors, if a camera shows you, on a red light, past the line in the intersection, but STOPPED, chances are it won't flash you. It's designed to (primarily) get those who make a deliberate run through the intersection after the light is red....or about to turn red.
Having said that, cities and municipalities have to abide by state law in setting their yellow cycles, and, if they are found to be deliberately cutting that cycle down, then, of course, should have to answer for it. The first step, of course, is ticket refunds....I agree with that. Points on the license are generally not involved, since, by law, the tickets do not involve points (the cameras usually cannot record who was actually driving, so they mail the ticket to the car's registered owner).
Having said that, cities and municipalities have to abide by state law in setting their yellow cycles, and, if they are found to be deliberately cutting that cycle down, then, of course, should have to answer for it. The first step, of course, is ticket refunds....I agree with that. Points on the license are generally not involved, since, by law, the tickets do not involve points (the cameras usually cannot record who was actually driving, so they mail the ticket to the car's registered owner).
Except accident involved vehicles are statistically going SLOWER than traffic. Gee, how could that be?
No Mike, speed isn't the issue. Cell phones, texting, reading the newspaper, putting on makeup, and a million other things are the real problem. Just last week I was driving down the road in front of my subdivision (speed limit 45) and everyone is driving at or slightly below the speed limit. An idiot from a maid service STOPS by the side of the road, steps out into heavy traffic to pick up something off the road (it's a complete wonder she wasn't hit and killed instantly) so all of us brake to slow and avoid her. Everyone was paying attention and managed to slow down at a moderately quick pace, but surely NOT panic braking. Except the idiot behind me. I hear screeching tires as I look in the mirror and see this stupid, inattentive person about to slam into the back of my car despite having MORE room to stop than the three people in front of me. Fortunately for me, the cars in front of me started pulling ahead so I jammed on the gas to give this idiot more room to stop and to avoid hitting me. No one was or could have been speeding. It was inattention plain and simple. Might have been the phone, might have been a text message, or eye make up, or fussing with the radio/navigation, lighting a cigarette - I don't know! I just know inattentive drivers are FAR more dangerous than speeding ones. After riding over 200k miles on motorcycles, I can say the vast majority of car drivers are truly dead asleep at the wheel.
And yes, cities are bound to shorten yellow cycles to ensure their cameras generate revenue. Each one costs ~$1M a year to install and operate. That's a LOT of tickets just to break even. They're just like butchers of yore putting a thumb on the scale...
08-26-09, 10:42 PM
#14
Lexus Fanatic
Agreed, and the slower you go, like that's a solution in itself.....
Next somebody will advocate the 55mph speed limit on the wide open highways and freeways of the western US, again just to generate revenue.
Next somebody will advocate the 55mph speed limit on the wide open highways and freeways of the western US, again just to generate revenue.
08-26-09, 11:31 PM
#15
Lexus Fanatic
I am not surprised at all. I am only surprised at the fact that more cities have not been caught yet. I am sure this spark a bit of an investigation. The smart cities who are screwing their residents should probably make sure all is to spec before they get busted as well
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