UPDATE: Georgia towns taking down their red light cameras because they don’t bring in enough money:
a new law required them to increase the length of time that a light is yellow by one second — and that’s decreased red light violations so significantly, that red light cameras have become “too expensive” (thanks to Scott Cauthen for sending that story in). This is what critics of red light cameras have said from the beginning: it’s always been about the revenue, rather than the safety. If you want safety, all you need to do is increase the length of yellow lights, and you have fewer people running red lights and significantly fewer accidents. But… if revenue is your goal, then you do things like decrease the yellow light timing — which is what a few cities have been caught doing.
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There’s weak evidence that the red-light cameras reduce accidents at certain intersections (though the severity of those accidents may actually rise), but there’s no doubt that they provide a major source of revenue at a time when cities are hurting for funds.
Mississippi is bucking this trend on a state level. There are only a handful of cameras actually in use in that state—in the cities of Jackson and Columbus—but it’s better to deal with the problem now, before the red-light cameras become entrenched and cities begin relying on them for critical revenue. Jackson and Columbus have until October 1 to uninstall the cameras, and Jackson is already uninstalling their system. Other towns that were in various states of contract negotiations, including McComb, Natchez, Southaven, and Tupelo are apparently reexamining their installation contracts with the camera contractors given the new law.
The order to shut the cameras down is still controversial; the Biloxi-Gulfport Sun Herald quotes Natchez Mayor Jake Middleton saying, “We were interested in them for safety. The only person that’s going to get in trouble or get a ticket is the person who runs a red light.” Unfortunately, Mr. Mayor, that’s not true. We’ve previously covered instances where teens pranked each other by speeding through a known red-light intersection with a printed copy of someone else’s license plate inserted over their own (because nothing is funnier than a $200 fine, right?). There’s also anecdotal evidence that red-light cameras have been caught ticketing people for turning right on a red light when doing so was both legal and appropriate.
Ars recently looked at city officials’ willingness to short-time yellow lights to catch more drivers and at Chicago’s evaluation of a red-light camera system that would fine drivers for not having insurance. And here I thought it had been amply demonstrated that these systems successfully deterred running red-lights.