Traffic Enforcement Dollars And Cents
June 25th, 2009 Posted in Eric Peters, Red-Light Cameras, Traffic Tickets
By Eric Peters, Automotive Columnist
Do you think it is ever a good idea to tie a money incentive to law enforcement of any kind? Not me. It is a guarantee of corruption and abuse. (See also: The War on Drugs.)
Let’s consider just one specific example — the use of cameras to catch (and “process”) red light violators. It’s all about “safety,” right?
Not so much. Here’s the truth:
Automated enforcement began as a completely, openly “privatized” operation, run by a private company — which explicitly, brazenly, promised local governments huge windfalls from the system.
And delivered on that promise.
The “profits” were gleefully split between the two. When this fact became common knowledge, they rejiggered it a bit to make it appear less of an obvious scam. But money is still the main motive. If that were not so, these systems would not be so focused on “revenue enhancement,” to use the favored term of the smarmy little bureaucrats who rule us.
Ask yourself how eager these state/local governments would be to turn over a law enforcement function to automation if there were no profit involved. Why are red light cameras never set up on a budget neutral, “pay as you go” basis — to cover operating costs and no more?
It is a known fact most red light running can be dealt with by properly adjusting signal timing — making sure the yellow is long enough to give people approaching the intersection time to slow and stop safely. And to allow those who can’t to clear the intersection safely before the yellow turns to red. Multiple studies have born this out. (See http://thenewspaper.com/news/02/243.asp and http://thenewspaper.com/news/26/2650.asp.)
The National Motorists Association also has a wealth of material on this subject available.
Yes, of course — a few people deliberately run red lights — and no amount of signal timing adjustment will deter them. As a motorcyclist and a motorist too, I hate these people a lot. They should be dealt with harshly. Fine and good.
However, it is equally true that most people do not deliberately run red lights — because most people are not deliberately reckless and neither want to risk being killed nor killing someone else.
Most people, in a word, are not sociopathic.
Just as most people do not drive excessively fast/beyond their skill/comfort level, either. (Though they may be “speeding” — but that doesn’t tell us anything other than the person was driving faster than a number on a sign).
And: Cameras will not stop all deliberate red light runners, either. But they will and do entrap more people who get caught in the shortened yellow intervals that are typical with camera enforcement. Yes, it’s true. When red light cameras go up, very often the yellow goes down. Signals are retimed — deliberately shortened yellows — to increase the number of violators, and thus, the amount of money the system generates. Not my opinion — an established fact. See the documents referenced above — and specifically, the court decisions where RLCs have been thrown out because of the obvious flim-flam, including deliberately cut-down yellow signal intervals.
You have to have your head up your hind quarters not to see that, to a very great extent, traffic enforcement in this country — and the laws/regulations underpinning it — are set up to extract money from people on the basis of trumped-up “violations” administered by rapacious officials whose bottom line is the bottom line …. money.
It’s not about “safety” — or “the children.” It’s about cold cash, dollars and cents. The sooner you come to grips with this fact of life, the better your mental filter will be at properly sorting whatever new law comes down the pike.
And the sooner you will begin to understand the true nature nature of The Beast.
Other Related Articles
- Help Us Stop Short Yellow Lights
- 6 Cities That Were Caught Shortening Yellow Light Times For Profit
- Increased Yellow Light Times Make Ticket Cameras Unnecessary
- 9 Ways To Improve Traffic Safety That The Government Will Ignore Because They Are Too Busy Ticketing You
- 10 Reasons To Oppose Red-Light Cameras
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I’m glad you compared this to the war on drugs, or as i like to say the war on citizens. Cause the war on drugs has eroded everyones rights especially the right to privacy. As you get pulled over for speeding maybe your just a happy person that laughs a lot (see the show speeders). So the cop is gonna ask to search your car, you have nothing so you oblige just to show that ass hole you have nothing to hide. But at the same time you didnt want him going through your belongings and you feel invaded. A friend of mine, a female, got pulled over and they searched her car, note she didnt want them to. The problem was she just went to a sex shop and had all kinds of sex toys in her car, which the officers laughed about of course and was extremely embarrassing for her as they searched her trunk. Thanks to the drug war. The Anne Arundel County police don’t care if you say no to a search they will do it anyway, legally or not. It sickens me that they get away with it quite a bit.
Now if they would have found drugs they probably could have seized her car if they wanted which by the way the police departments get parts of the proceeds for confiscating houses and cars. Wow, so much corruption. Everyone likes to act like the police is fair and wouldn’t do things like that, but there’s dollar signs and possibly a promotion for busting these mostly harmless people who just want they’re fix. It’s disgusting.
So then the police wonder why all the citizens hate them soooo much. Well maybe if they weren’t ass holes and the war on drugs was no longer people would have a more favorable opinion of them. It would be more like oh its cop its prolly just speeding, instead of I hope this ass hole dosen’t give me a hard time and want to search my car for no reason and waste my time.
How many times have you been searched Randall or are you one of those that heard of someone somewhere that did? You did not say why your friend was searched or if she told them it was ok. By the way everything you say and heard are second hand so you may not know all the facts anyway. Funny how many times people on this site have complained about a lot of things that never happened to them. You say that someone gave their ok to have their car searched then you complain about the cop going through the car and belongings? What is that all about? If you are uncomfortable about the cop going through your things then you do not say it is ok for a search. I guess I have too much common sense though and do not understand other peoples thoughts and lack of common sense.
Wellll myself personally have never even been asked. You know why? because i act like a normal human being being pulled over. I have had times where there were things in my car when I got pulled over but I acted like just a regular “law-abiding” citizen.
But my point is the police would have no reason to even ask to search your car if there were no drug war. I believe about 2% of searched cars come up with something illegal. I saw it on the show speeders which was one of my references above.
For you to sit here and pretend that this does not happen on a very common occurrence is ridiculous. It’s your word against the cops in court if there is no video which I don’t think any cop car in MD has cameras. So it would be quite hard to prove if you were wronged.
Though I do work with someone who’s car was illegally searched. I was angry that she didn’t challenge it. She just plead guilty and took some drug classes or whatever. The cops were so determined to search after she said no they called her mother because she too was on the ownership of the car. Her mom said No also. Then the police decided to detain the passenger for no reason. They said he was being arrested, wouldn’t say what for. Then because they were arresting him for nothing, they then had the right to search. Now you tell me that’s not illegal.
BTW, i’m fully aware that you don’t tell a cop it’s OK to search your car Randy. I am very knowledgeable about what they can and can’t do that way they dont take advantage of me. but i have encountered ass hole cops before. You just do what they say and hope for the best.
For example I watched my dad get arrested for freedom of speech at a Buffett concert in 1999 by the Howard County police for disorderly conduct. One cop earlier asked to sniff my root beer to see if there were alcohol in it. I had nothing in it so sure why not dick head. I swear to god to this day he took a sip from it. I told my dad he found another cop and asked him if they had the right to do that. That cop tells him in an angrey voice “We have ALL the right” So my dad walks away, says “What the F is this country going to.” The cop then tackled him to the ground for disorderly conduct which was later dropped in court because hmmmm, there was no disorderly conduct. He missed the concert too, thanks alot Howard county. Side note: that officer no longer works for them because a big fat guy fell on him at another concert and broke his back.
Randall so there is a drug war so what the heck is your point? The fact is that the more people that are on drugs in the US the worse we all are but of course it sounds like your coworkers and possibly you and your dad may be druggies and that is why you are complaining. I personally do not think you have freedom of speech at a concert. I think you can be thrown out for any cause if you are disrupting other people. That is pretty much the law at most all events. As far as alcohol in your root beer, they have the right to check whatever they like also. I have been sporting events and you are searched and you can not bring any liquid in.
You also said you watch cop shows. If you have seen any that I have then you would realize that policemen need to be tough or their life and others are at risk. You do not care about things like that though.
No, the police need to be respectful. or they need to find another line of work.
George I had to laugh at that one “No, the police need to be respectful. or they need to find another line of work.”
That made me think that people need to learn to drive without getting tickets or not drive at all.
The police are public servants. They are not officials.
and unfortunately too often they are forced to be meter maid / revenue collection agents.
“You say that someone gave their ok to have their car searched then you complain about the cop going through the car and belongings? What is that all about? If you are uncomfortable about the cop going through your things then you do not say it is ok for a search. ”
This is what you are missing , more & more over the last few years we have been loosing the right to refuse to be searched even without probable cause . In court case after case in the last few years we have lost the right to refuse an unwarranted search . Often the drug war or the war on terror is the excuse given by police .
Every time we allow missuses of power like above we all loose rights . So that is what this is about .
I travel the western US often for weeks at a time , While on my trips my car is many times is a mess by the time I get back home from the gathering up of trash and changing cloths . Once when I was pulled over but not ticketed a cop used his power to search without my permission . He claimed the condition of my car was his probable cause . This is what this fight is about , searching a car like mine just because I haven’t had a chance to clean up my car . IF I had been ticketed for anything I would have sued the state .
Or one of the other reasons used for a search of a car without permission by the police is a cop seeing a pine tree air freshener hanging on the mirror in a vehicle . The cop in question claimed that pine tree air fresheners almost always mean drugs are present , what a bullsh!t excuse . Like saying twinky wrappers mean pot is present as an excuse to search my car . This one is directly out of the headlines and was taken to state supreme court .
Someone forgot to read this statement in the report that they linked to when writing this biased article:
“Enforcement efforts are likely to reduce violations occurring primarily in the first few seconds of red and, therefore, should significantly reduce left-turn-opposed crashes. In an indirect manner, these efforts should also reduce some right-angle crashes by encouraging driver compliance with the signal.”
Uhhh! Randy. What about checkpoints? I was stopped at one on my way to work this morning. I thought that the Supreme Court ruled that only DUI checkpoints were legal (BS!). I was stopped to see if I was wearing a seatbelt. The officer wanted to search my car as well. I told him no and since there were so many cars backing up behind me I was allowed to go on my way.
Jim Collins my guess why the officer wanted to search your car was because you definitely have an attitude and I am sure you let the officer know it. You also prooved my point that if you say you do not want to be searched then there is a good chance you will not be searched unless there are signs that you should be.
What a bullshit idea in the first place. You’re already being ripped off with the tax money. A ticket camera costs about 50,000 dollars a piece. You think a city has that kind of money now?
Oh puleeeze.