Charlotte, NC is taking down their red light cameras. They were the first city in NC to install them back in the late 90s. They passed a state (or city?) law that said 90% of the revenue had to go to funding public schools, which made them impossible to operate since something like 70% of the revenue goes to the 'camera company.' Houston should follow their lead and get rid of these things. The duration of the yellow signal on the traffic light here is the shortest in the country.

There are serious issues with the way TxDOT Houston District constructs traffic lights at their freeway intersections. In most cases this is only an issue on the cross street going under the freeway, not on the frontage road.

TxDOT typically does not use louvers to restrict the view of the green lights at the second intersection, this can lead to increased red light running when people mistakenly look at the light that is further away and see the green instead of the red that is closest.

At split or box diamonds where the cross street is divided wide the issue is more pronounced as it affects both the cross street and the frontage roads. This lack of "effort" on TxDOT's part contributed to a fatality a few years back at FM 1960 and IH 45. In response to that fatality TxDOT installed 8 inch green heads instead of the standard 12 inch at the downstream intersection. of course with the new LED signal indications there is very little difference in luminous intensity between the 8 and 12 inch heads. Short of louvering the downstream intersection, TxDOT will never make this problem go away. Geometrically, Wayside at I-10 east is an intersection like this, I wonder what the downstream heads are, 8 inch greens, 12 inch greens, or louvered anything.

Some of these locations may be suffering from this situation. Most of these locations strike me as overcapacity interchanges.

I wonder the last time they were retimed...

West Road at the northbound north frwy frontage road is one location that causes me some concern. 1) You are coming out from under the bridge, signals like this frequently are hard to see. 2) I haven't been through the intersection in some time, but I am assuming it is running TTI 4 Phase timing which is likely, but unless the timing is horribly screwed up, the only way for you to run the eastbound red on the northside is if you also ran a red at the southside of the interchange. If the signal is timed such that you can get a red at the northside without having done so then the internal offset is screwed up IMHO and it needs retimed to get rid of that.

I wish we could get an accounting of what the City / TxDOT / and Law Enforcement have done to counter the identified "crash problem" before resorting to cameras.

My bet is on very little and this is my frustration with the cameras.

I hope that all photo red ticket recipients refuse to pay. This will send the message that Houston drivers are not going to play the time and distance guessing game where the rules are stacked against the innocent driver.

Let's see:
shortest time on yellow lights +
red light cameras
=
more crashes and injuries

...also put into minority neighborhoods = ?

Might this have nothing to do with revenue but rather something sinister? I am just quessing...it will take "real journalists" to investigate.

Hillary Clinton says she will take on the Privacy issue in her campaign. She better hurry and start.

In the meanwhile, call your Rep. on this one, please:

http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/diarypage.php?did=2781

RESCIND H.R. BILL 418 BEFORE THEY STICK A COWBELL ON US ALL

I hope you will contact your representatives and tell them to rescind H.R. Bill 418 before they stick a cowbell on us all.

snip

H.R. 418 is a bill that the 109th Congress slipped into a bill for Katrina relief. H.R. 418 is a Jack-in-the-box bill which is set to become effective in May of 2008, just prior to the presidential elections.

This bill places into law a required driver's license and/or state I.D. that contains a GPS tracking chip. This bill requires all states to comply with no exceptions. For anyone who refuses to accept this satelite tracking chip, they will be denied access to any planes and flights whether domestic or international, and access to any Federal buildings in or out of the U.S.

Snip

Along with illegally tapping our phones and illegally opening our mail, we are now going to be globally tracked via satelite, like a package, any where we go. The next thing to come will be to lump our medical records, work records, school records, credit records and anything else about us under this chip-tracking device.

Snip

Now they are branding us and tracking us after they have throughly examined us. If they think you are worth anything you will be admitted to their world. Otherwise, you can starve to death in the streets...

Snip

got a ticket.. AMBER LIGHT... WHATS THIS.. AT 21 MPH.. GOING THRU AMBER... WHAT WAS I TO DO.. GET HIT IN THE REAR ! I AM PISSED .. GOT DOWNTOWN..

ANY ATTORNEYS HERE TAKING CARE OF THESE?

THANKS