Have you ever seen those signs on the road that say "Red Light Photo Enforced?" Unlike the speeding camera photo enforcement I've seen, this one delivers on its' promises. Some of you may have encountered these pesky devices. When you or someone nearby approaches a red light too fast a noticeably bright flash will be apparent at night. This was one or multiple cameras taking a digital photo of your license plate, and in some cases, a quick video of the violation. Someone just got a ticket for running a red light. Looking up nearby locations, I found 4 red light cameras in Waterloo and these pesky things are becoming more common. As these devices are working 24/7 on either busy or dangerous intersections, there very few methods of getting around them. These methods decrease as your destination has fewer possible routes you can take and the installation of more of these cameras.
Since there is no officer to actually give you a moving violation, which goes on your record and affects your insurance rate, a photo enforced citation comes simply with a fine (ranging anywhere from $75 to $300). Does this actually remove dangerous drivers from the road? No, but they will have a financial impact.
To share a personal story, my hometown back in Illinois had none of these red light cameras. With less than one week from returning from my Afghanistan deployment, I encountered one of these on a road I take often around 1:15 AM that night. I was about to make a right hand turn, slowing down to observe oncoming traffic, when I saw a bright flash of light all around me. I was still a little shaken from my deployment, so I did the first thing that training has taught me... Drive out of the kill zone. I thought I was being mortared. About a month later, i got a fine of $100 with the video and photos to "prove" I ran a red-light right turn. There was a means to schedule a court date to refute charges, but if I lost, I would have to pay an additional $100. In the video they took, you could see my brake lights on, slowing to the turn, the camera flashes, and my car literally burning rubber to get out of there. I decided just to pay the fine. I find out that not only my neighborhood had these installed at almost every light, but a few other neighborhoods did the same thing. Half my unit received these fines within the first few weeks of being back. Almost everyone that tried to fight it, lost, and had to pay the court fee as well as their fine.
As many others in my town feel psychologically, these police ran cameras show how our cops aren't there to "Serve and Protect." They're just another form of tax collector not even willing to fine us themselves.
Interesting prospective, I had never considered the effects of deployment in such a sense. It is very alarming to me as well just in general, it is a stimulus I am most definitely not used too.
This brings up the subject of whether or not anyone could ever even win if they did take it to court. Most of the time even if the driver was actually in the right, I can very easily see a judge dismissing it as a person who is simply disgruntled with traffic tickets or laws and is trying to prove a point.
what if it is 4 in the morning, no cars around anywhere, your on your way to work and get stuck at that dreaded 10 minute light. Should you really be fined $100 if you don't want to wait the 10 minutes and clearly you are not endangering anyone?
I personally do not like the concept of it. It seems a bit of an invasion of privacy to me and just a way for law enforcement to collect more money for the city at a state in the economy where more revenue is always needed.
I found your comment about returning from deployment very interesting because when my brother and about 1,000 soldiers returned from Iraq I went to his base to welcome him home. One of the things they warned us about at the welcome home ceremony was that a lot of soldiers forget about civilian law and using stop lights/stop signs. They wanted us as civilians to take extra precaution when driving so as to not have traffic accidents. I think that the use of traffic cameras are complete crap. You have no way of using discretion in a situation such as this if you do with a police officer.