Run a red light in california - Fine is $480

This is great. Red light runners are killers and maimers and deserve to pay. I say make criminals pay big fines so law-abiding citizens pay less taxes.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/02/05/MNGJ1N2VRO.DTL

Red-light cameras boost coffers, rile drivers
Kevin Fagan

Sunday, February 5, 2012
California has the most expensive red-light camera tickets in the world - the fine is so steep that one camera in Oakland generates more than $3 million a year - and a Fremont man is launching a protest group to do something about that.

Anyone in California snapped violating a red light pays a fine of $480, and according to the traffic-watch site TheNewspaper.com, no other jurisdiction anywhere has a tab that high. The second-highest fine in the United States is $250, and it is usually more like $100.

The Legislature passed two bills in the past two years that would have reduced the fine or limited the cameras' use, but both were vetoed. When he killed the most recent measure, Gov. Jerry Brown said the matter should be left to local jurisdictions.

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Soon, it may be illegal to make a 'right turn' in the SF. If you're going north and you want to go east...you'll be required to make 3 left turns. They don't like anything associated with the right there.

 

Eliminate traffic lights!

 

I wonder how many illegal aliens will pay up..
Maybe we should have an illegal sensor at every corner to auto deport them back home.
Maybe a auto cheat system for every politician in Calif. who lies and cheats..
A auto green system for every green eco nut who leaves the lights on and uses too much water in their showers.

The Auto systems are a great idea..every rich person should have their money just whisked away by automation right to those needy poor people.

The same poor people who have a auto sensor detecting if they lie about looking for work.. fraud against the state for food stamps and the magical safety net.
Calif should be the leader in this technology..They help create the welfare state in the 1st place.

I was born there..and Glad I left 35 years ago.
I had a auto BS sensor setting of alarms in my head.

 

Red light cameras are for revenue, not for safety. Studies show that a better way to increase safety at red lights is to increase yellow light time. Red light cameras are assocated with an increase in rear end collisions.


http://www.motorists.org/red-light-cameras/effect-yellow-timing

http://www.motorists.org/red-light-cameras/katu-news

 

I notice you said "are associated with" not "are caused by". You're right to make the distinction because the rear end collisions are due to people that want to run the red and assume the person in front will also break the law!

That's the fault of the criminal driver not the camera.

 

They're not allowed to have drivers licenses so there is usually no way the infraction can be traced to them.

 

No thats called tailgating.

 

So there are no illegals driving in Calif. ?

My BS auto sensor just went crazy.

 

Doesn't matter who's fault it is if you get rear-ended. The studies clearly show that the best way to reduce red light accidents OF ALL KINDS is to increase the time of the yellow light by .5 to 1 second. Red light cameras seem to cause an increase in rear-end accidents, while stopping t-bones. If you were choosing between accidents, rear-endings would be the less damaging choice, however, the best bet is fewer accidents altogether, which increasing yellow light time seems to do best. Red light cameras are just there to make money. The worst thing is the red light camera companies keep about half of the fine for themselves, and some have sued cities that increased yellow light time (which is proven to help safety). Redlight cameras are not about safety, but are sold that way.

 

He didn't say that. He said illegals couldn't have drivers licenses. You can drive without a driver's license.

 

IMO tickets should be based on income.

If you're rich you'd get a $100,000 ticket ;P. If you're poor a smaller but still expensive for them one.

Right now well off people often basically just ignore tickets. They can pay them off easily and consider them almost a bill for being able to break traffic laws. I know people personally who act just like this and collect tickets as if they were rare collectibles.

Breaking laws should have punishments that people of all creeds can feel.

 

Of course this would only harm poor people, not rich people. If you really cared about people not running red lights, you'd advocate points against licenses/throwing people who run red lights in jail for a few days instead of fining them. You're basically just saying that rich people should be allowed to run red lights and poor people shouldn't.

 

You forget about the concept called "points on the license." For example, in Florida, if you get more that 12 points in 12 months, your license is suspended for 30 days (18 points within 18 months, 3 month suspension; 24 points in 36 months, one year suspension) . A routine speeding ticket is 3 points. 9 speeding tickets in 3 yrs, and you've lost your license for a year.

 

It's all, all about revenue. Cities, counties, states and federal laws, rules and regulations are all about collecting fees and fines. Fees and fines grease the wheels. If there was a community in which every citizen played by the rules..that community would be broke. Ergo; breaking the rules is the same as performing a community service and should be applauded, not condemned or punished.

 

There are ways past this, especially for the well off.

 

I think one could argue that would be discrimination. One person paying a higher fine for a trivial crime based on their wealth is not justice in my opinion.

 

Of course illegals are driving. I never said otherwise. But they can't legally have a driver's license so i assume the state cannot match the plates up with the owner.

 

It's not a trivial crime and the punishment loses all meaning when the people are well off or well connected enough to ignore it. It's discrimination against the poor who are the only ones being properly punished. It's just plain NOT a punishment to fine a millionaire $480. The point of punishment in law is crime prevention. This does nothing in that case.

 

I feel the same way. An alternative is to suspend the driver's license of highway criminals. That hurts rich and poor. We can also felonize crimes like DUI or speeding say 25+ mph over the limit. Rich people don't want a felony on their record.

 

Of couse it's discrimination. So what? Graduated tax rates are discrimination too.

 

Why not just go the full monty and expropriate them like the commies do it? No reason to (*)(*)(*)(*)(*) foot around the issue is there?

 

Red light cameras are terrible.

They may bring in millions every year, but they don't make anyone safer.

A better way to reduce the number of accidents is to have a longer delay between when the light turns red and the other light turns green.

All the cameras do is make people slam on their brakes if it turns yellow - even if they clearly could have made the light.

 

Well, in that case, they will also figure out a way around the increased fines.......

 

And interestingly, many of the red light camera operating companies specifically put in their contracts that yellow light times can't be increased. In some cases, they've even had the yellow light time reduced. Red light cameras are just a way for companies and cities to make money in the guise of safety.

http://blog.motorists.org/6-cities-that-were-caught-shortening-yellow-light-times-for-profit/