Looks like the long crusade to bring red-light cameras to Indiana might be on the verge of succeeding. A bill to authorize the cameras passed the Senate and now moves to the House. A survey by the AAA Hoosier Motor Club found that 94 percent of the respondents support the cameras, and even the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana says the practice is constitutional. Supporters (including many cities in Indiana, including Fort Wayne) say it's all about safety, not revenue, but consider:
The Lafayette Police Department tested a camera for one day last year and taped 135 violators. By comparison, from January 2007 to June 2008, police issued 368 tickets to drivers running stoplights in Lafayette.
That's more than a third as many tickets as from a year and a half issued in just one day. Even in normal times, such revenue potential would be seductive, and it's hard to believe so many cities have a sudden extra passion for safety just when we're in the middle of a recession.
If this passes, journalists and citizen activists should at least start paying attention to yellow caution lights at the affected intersections. Studies have shown that increasing the time of the yellow light improves safety and decreasing the time increases the number of crashes. And some cities have been accused of installing the cameras, then shortening the caution lights.
Comments
Why shouldn't stimulus-provided infrastructure improvement funds be directed toward roundabout construction to improve traffic flow, reduce accidents, and eliminate number of traffic lights and cameras altogether? Do we really want even more surveillance by enforcement authorities?
As to the the AAA survey: as insurance brokers, they would certainly have an incentive promote policies which might reduce claims. But if their own membership consitutued a majority of the respondents, then the results are subject to a different interpretation.