That red light ain't Rudolph's nose
Bless the festive sights of Christmas. The decorations, the colorful displays, the myriad red lights...
But wait. Lest you get the wrong impression, this piece isn’t about ho-ho-ho and all that.. Rather, it’s those traffic stoplights.
You know, those that we are so richly endowed with hereabouts, especially on Garrisonville Road, as daily commuters there can woefully attest. It’s also becoming nearly as bad lately on U.S. 1 in the area.
Besides enduring those multiplying red lights, neighbors traveling beyond our confines must be even more vigilant than usual or else they risk getting their vehicles’ pictures taken and notice of violation mailed with a demand for monetary sacrifice to boot.
A few years ago, when they were all the rage in Fairfax County, I got nailed for extending the yellow too long at a light on the Fairfax Parkway at I-95. So, 50 hard-earned bucks went, alas, to enrich the bureaucratic coffers in one of the richest counties in the nation.
Look for many more of these sleazy municipal money-makers to crop up as hard times take hold in more jurisdictions. Item: “NYC on Ticket Blitz; 200 traffic agents added...Cash-strapped City is Out to Raise $66 million.”--WCBS TV.
Oh swell.
And you surely know that Washington, D.C.’s red light and speed cameras are thick as fleas, and thieves. Same goes for Maryland. You can check out particular locations at photoenforced.com. Be forewarned.
Thanks to instant movies and cell phone snapshots, such technology increasingly attracts the attention of Big Brother, but not for entertainment.
As a writer for McClatchy newspapers noted recently, “Chevy Chase Village (Md) is a great place to live but you wouldn’t want to visit there. At least not by car. Easy-to-miss automated speed cameras on its half-mile main drag, where the speed limit is 30 mph, caught 3,500 speeders on their first day of operation last fall.”
He adds darkly that more than 300 U.S. communities use similarly automated cop-cam systems. “They're after not just speeders but also red-light violators and railroad-crossing jumpers.”
Over in the United Kingdom, he notes, cop-cams are 10 times more widely used, There, saboteurs have shot out cameras’ lenses, disabled them with bolt cutters, and pulled them down.
The contraptions do reduce accidents, except for more rear-enders--those sudden stops on yellow at intersections where drivers know that the light is camera-monitored. And by the way, cop-cams can be cash cows. It’s said that Washington's dozen cop-cams have taken in more than $200 million since 2001.
And check out this analysis by a Tennessee think tank: There are no incentives for communities to solve the problem of red-light running using other proven means, such as longer yellow-light times. It’s said that a simple one-second increase in yellow-light duration has proven a far safer alternative to red-light cameras. Ah yes, but consider all the foregone loot in an era of pinched local budgets. And there you have a truly infectious disease, spreading rapidly.
A 2001 paper by the Office of the Majority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives reported that red-light cameras are "a hidden tax levied on motorists." The report came to the same conclusions that all of the other valid studies have, that red-light cameras are associated with increased crashes and that the timings at yellow lights are often set too short on purpose to yield more tickets.
As far as Virginia is concerned currently, there is no legislation allowing speed cameras but there is for red-light cameras, I‘m told. They are being used throughout the state, primarily in urban areas. Spotsylvania was looking at using them at a couple of intersections on Route 3. In Stafford County, the Board of Supervisors would have to approve their use here. So we’re OK...so far.
On a similarly heartening note, here’s a neat traffic story about older drivers. A st ate trooper sees a car puttering along at 22 mph. So he pulls the driver over. Approaching the car, he notices five elderly ladies inside, wide-eyed and white as ghosts.
The driver, obviously confused, says, "Officer, I don't understand. I was going the exact speed limit. The trooper, trying to contain a chuckle, explains to her that 22 is the road’s route number, not the speed limit."Now, before you go, Ma'am, I have to ask--is everyone in this carOK? These women seem awfully shaken.""Oh, they'll be all right in a minute, officer. We just got off Route 95."
On that happy note, I wish you all Merry Christmas!
But wait. Lest you get the wrong impression, this piece isn’t about ho-ho-ho and all that.. Rather, it’s those traffic stoplights.
You know, those that we are so richly endowed with hereabouts, especially on Garrisonville Road, as daily commuters there can woefully attest. It’s also becoming nearly as bad lately on U.S. 1 in the area.
Besides enduring those multiplying red lights, neighbors traveling beyond our confines must be even more vigilant than usual or else they risk getting their vehicles’ pictures taken and notice of violation mailed with a demand for monetary sacrifice to boot.
A few years ago, when they were all the rage in Fairfax County, I got nailed for extending the yellow too long at a light on the Fairfax Parkway at I-95. So, 50 hard-earned bucks went, alas, to enrich the bureaucratic coffers in one of the richest counties in the nation.
Look for many more of these sleazy municipal money-makers to crop up as hard times take hold in more jurisdictions. Item: “NYC on Ticket Blitz; 200 traffic agents added...Cash-strapped City is Out to Raise $66 million.”--WCBS TV.
Oh swell.
And you surely know that Washington, D.C.’s red light and speed cameras are thick as fleas, and thieves. Same goes for Maryland. You can check out particular locations at photoenforced.com. Be forewarned.
Thanks to instant movies and cell phone snapshots, such technology increasingly attracts the attention of Big Brother, but not for entertainment.
As a writer for McClatchy newspapers noted recently, “Chevy Chase Village (Md) is a great place to live but you wouldn’t want to visit there. At least not by car. Easy-to-miss automated speed cameras on its half-mile main drag, where the speed limit is 30 mph, caught 3,500 speeders on their first day of operation last fall.”
He adds darkly that more than 300 U.S. communities use similarly automated cop-cam systems. “They're after not just speeders but also red-light violators and railroad-crossing jumpers.”
Over in the United Kingdom, he notes, cop-cams are 10 times more widely used, There, saboteurs have shot out cameras’ lenses, disabled them with bolt cutters, and pulled them down.
The contraptions do reduce accidents, except for more rear-enders--those sudden stops on yellow at intersections where drivers know that the light is camera-monitored. And by the way, cop-cams can be cash cows. It’s said that Washington's dozen cop-cams have taken in more than $200 million since 2001.
And check out this analysis by a Tennessee think tank: There are no incentives for communities to solve the problem of red-light running using other proven means, such as longer yellow-light times. It’s said that a simple one-second increase in yellow-light duration has proven a far safer alternative to red-light cameras. Ah yes, but consider all the foregone loot in an era of pinched local budgets. And there you have a truly infectious disease, spreading rapidly.
A 2001 paper by the Office of the Majority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives reported that red-light cameras are "a hidden tax levied on motorists." The report came to the same conclusions that all of the other valid studies have, that red-light cameras are associated with increased crashes and that the timings at yellow lights are often set too short on purpose to yield more tickets.
As far as Virginia is concerned currently, there is no legislation allowing speed cameras but there is for red-light cameras, I‘m told. They are being used throughout the state, primarily in urban areas. Spotsylvania was looking at using them at a couple of intersections on Route 3. In Stafford County, the Board of Supervisors would have to approve their use here. So we’re OK...so far.
On a similarly heartening note, here’s a neat traffic story about older drivers. A st ate trooper sees a car puttering along at 22 mph. So he pulls the driver over. Approaching the car, he notices five elderly ladies inside, wide-eyed and white as ghosts.
The driver, obviously confused, says, "Officer, I don't understand. I was going the exact speed limit. The trooper, trying to contain a chuckle, explains to her that 22 is the road’s route number, not the speed limit."Now, before you go, Ma'am, I have to ask--is everyone in this carOK? These women seem awfully shaken.""Oh, they'll be all right in a minute, officer. We just got off Route 95."
On that happy note, I wish you all Merry Christmas!
posted by Ben Blankenship at
9:38 AM
