Question regarding the infamoush "red light cameras".

If you are driving and the light turns yellow a meter or two before you cross the white stopping line (which marks the start of the intersection) and turns red while you are under the light (in the intersection), do you still get ticketed?
In this situation it would be impossible to stop before the intersection. If you did, you would be stopped in the middle of the intersection.

So would you get a ticket or not?

:shrug:

then you get your picture taken and a special letter sent to you in the mail.

and the light turns red, what happens?

so you probably won't get a ticket. I have run the yellow light a bunch of times and never gotten a ticket... for what it's worth. :shrug:

paranoid every time I get to an intersection that has a Red Light Camera. I either slow up way before the light to make sure that it turns red before I get to the intersection or if I see that it just turned green I speed up to make sure I get through it while it is still green. All the while my other foot is ready to cover the break and I'll put somebody through the windshield before I get another $100 ticket.

I'm not alone with my new driving habits around Red Light Camera's. If you watch at an intersection that has them - it appears that everyone that knows about them - starts driving funny and reacts much like I do.

I actually believe that Red Light Camera's are dangerous - more dangerous than before they were put up at the intersection.

Municipalities that use them - justify them from a safety point of view - but in actuality they are put up as a revenue producer. I've seen some put up in the suburbs around Chicago at fairly innocuous intersections - where there was previously no safety problem - and the intersection becomes dangerous because of them.

I don't know if there is any research done on them. I would be interested in finding out whether they enhance safety or make things worse. My gut tells me that the companies that are out hawking these to municipalities are the only ones that are sponsoring studies and I'm sure they are biased in their favor so they can sell the camera's.

If anybody on this board has any information regarding safety of or lack there of of these cameras - I would appreciate it if you would post it here.

I think they are a hazard and they should be outlawed. If municipalities were really serious about safety they should do like I've seen in Ohio on Route 23 south of Columbus. About a 1/4 mile before you get to an intersection there is a yellow caution light on the right side of the road in the direction you are heading. If you get to that light and it is flashing you need to slow down because it is a signal that by the time you reach the intersection - the light will turn red. If it is not flashing - it means that when you arrive at the intersection the light will still be green. This to me is the way to address the safety issue of dangerous intersections. If you still go through the intersection when you were warned that it would be red - then you deserve a ticket.

In the Chicago area they don't provide you with a good enough warning that you are approaching a red light camera intersection. The sign is almost immediately before the intersection and by the time you notice it - if you notice it - you are already in or going into the intersection. As far as I'm concerned - they do this only to say that you were warned should you contest the ticket. It is not meant to really warn you. Again - this is a revenue generating move on their part and not a safety move. In fact - I'm sure the manufacturers of these cameras provide the municipality with how quick they would get payback - if they invested in the cameras.

I want to start a movement to outlaw these cameras - but I think it's too late as they are generating money and this is what drives their growth.

I've been dreading getting the ticket, but so far it hasn't tracked us down yet. Any idea how I'd find out if there's a ticket out there in my name? I don't want to get pulled over and arrested because we have a traffic ticket.
I agree with you about the safety issue. My husband just about put me thru the windshield a couple of times because of them.

the camera's targeted to catch you entering the intersection. Basically to get a picture of your approach, entrance and exit with the light color visible. So that if you contest it the judge can see that the light was clearly red before you entered the intersection.

It makes no sense if you enter the intersection with a yellow light and then it turns red when you are in the intersection, to receive a fine.

There are a series of pictures taken when you drive through. It's been my experience here in California if the first photo shows you in the intersection, you'll beat the ticket. That is if you even got one at all, they usually don't waste the postage if you're through the white line in the first photo.

safe.

No ticket.

And that is fair.

I would only make sense to ticket anyone who entered the intersection after the light turns red.

Here being Plano, TX.

If you pass the "stop line" (white line) before it turns red, you will not get a ticket.

I just went to court a couple of weeks ago and it was VERY interesting. I really believe this is totally a revenue making scheme.

Around 80% of the red light tickets are for a free right on red, but the driver didn't come to a complete stop before the "stop line". In each case, the maneuver was totally safe but still ticketed.

When I went to court, the standard fine was $124. One young lady crossed the stop line one tenth of a second after the light turned red and was given a reduced fine of $100. Another guy blew straight through the intersection at the speed limit 5 seconds after the light turned red, swerved around 2 people (almost hitting both) and was also given a reduced fine of $100. How fair is that????

I had heard about a city in Texas that pulled out the cameras because statistics showed a huge increase in the number of rear-end collisions that far outweighed the reduction in side-impact collisions that the cameras were supposed to prevent.

In my case, I gave the judge documentation that I was out of state on the time/date in question and had my case dismissed.

Even at the incredibly sedate speed of 20 MPH, a vehicle travels at a rate of approximately 29 feet per second. the average yellow light is 4 seconds long, meaning you would have traveled 116 feet in that time. You give a scenario where the light turns yellow "a meter or two" before reaching the line marking entry to the intersection, so let's lop off 6 feet. That would place our hypothetical slowpoke, traveling at 20 MPH, 110 feet past the entry to the intersection. I don't know of any intersection anywhere where 110 feet puts you "under the light".

Of course, driving presents us with all kinds of unforeseeable scenarios. Perhaps this particular light doesn't stay yellow for the full 4 seconds. Let's give it 3. So you're down to around 80 feet of travel before it turns red, at dirt slow speeds. Still not there. It's possible to be traveling slower than that of course, but if it were me and I was traveling slower than that I'd probably have stopped for the light. A car could be attempting to make a left turn, thus waiting for oncoming traffic, but if that is the case it shouldn't really be in the intersection. Yes I know, people do it all the time but if it then causes you to run a red you'd still have no real argument if ticketed. I can imagine other scenarios that would slow or stop me in the intersection but they all involve things like pedestrians venturing into the road etc, which would be legitimate grounds to challenge any ticket.

So, is this a hypothetical question or is there an actual incident? If this actually happened perhaps more facts could help to analyze it better.

for more responses.

My approach is to stop on a yellow, but that's just me.