Re: War on Short yellow lights.

att wrote:
"Paul Hovnanian P.E." <paul@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:49EE1216.FD32F256@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sylvia Else wrote:
[snip]

Maybe the situation in the USA is different, but here in NSW, Australia,
I haven't heard of a single convincing case, documented with video,
showing a red-light camera connected to lights with an unreasonably
short yellow period.
I don't know how your traffic standards are written down under. But here
in the USA, every petty little local city council or police department
gets to fiddle with their own traffic controls.

What really bothers me about this is that many of these municipalities
asked for and received some pretty substantial federal subsidies to put
state of the art equipment in. And then when the feds leave, they whip
out the screwdrivers and bugger up the timing, just like it was before
the upgrade.

One of my favorite examples is the traffic control through the middle of
the Microsoft campus (a public street). For years, Redmond used short
pedestrian crossing signals for 'traffic calming'. Together with
mis-timing, having to slam on the brakes because some overweight s/w
geek can't waddle across the street fast enough was funny (if you have a
sick sense of humor). Then, the city undertook a major signal automation
project, including big signs indicating how many millions of dollars of
federal funds were being used. After it was all completed, the city just
switched the new, high tech lights over to the same timing patterns that
the old ones had.

I think the feds should audit this stuff and demand their money back if
the locals don't manage the systems properly.
--
Paul Hovnanian mailto:Paul@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
------------------------------------------------------------------
Bloody typical, they've gone back to metric without telling us.

The way it works here in the US is a private company offers to install the cameras free, and just take a portion, 25% or so, of the fines generated. As a "bonus" they offer to maintain all the traffic lights free. Then they diddle with the timing of the yellow to increase revenue.



Still, get video evidence that the timing is too short given the speed limit, such that there will be some drivers for whom complying with the law will not be physically possible (allowing for human limitations such as reaction times), and that should be sufficient to defeat the traffic fines.

Laws are not usually meant to be construed so to require people to achieve the impossible.

Sylvia.
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: War on Short yellow lights.
    ... showing a red-light camera connected to lights with an unreasonably ... short yellow period. ... out the screwdrivers and bugger up the timing, ... the city undertook a major signal automation ...
    (sci.electronics.design)
  • Re: Anyone else have slikstik illuminated joysticks?
    ... are hooked to the 5 Volt connector of my keyboard encoder. ... > I have two of the multi color illuminated joysticks from slikstik. ... > Give it a bit to load, kinda large video. ... > on and lights off in the room. ...
    (alt.games.mame)
  • Re: Advice to Drivers of Small Pointless Japanese Cars
    ... I made a video of myself driving "like a ... jackrabbit" and posted it, unedited, to serve as a benchmark. ... how many green lights I just sailed right on through. ... one light that I would have made except my path was blocked by a Sloth ...
    (rec.autos.driving)
  • Re: 1 hour of your time
    ... What kind of timing are you talking about? ... the subject and there is a region leading up to the traffic lights known ... safely at the line or whether braking will only leave you stopped in the ... DfT describe the dilemma zone as "the distance over which it is ...
    (uk.rec.cycling)
  • Re: blue dancing lights on the bride
    ... as such not doing any photos or video. ... >--he shot a video with blue dancing lights in everyone's faces. ... the right to tell the hall to turn the lights off, ...
    (rec.photo.digital)
Quantcast