As I drive anywhere, I often come across an intersection with a sign saying"Red Light Photo Enforced". Whenever I see this sign, my heart instantly pounds. As someone who has never gotten a ticket (yet), I fear that one day an intersection like that will be the end of my squeaky clean record.
In an effort to cut down on accidents and traffic violations, these cameras were installed by townships everywhere. If one breaks a traffic law, a blinding flash goes off from an unknown location, lighting up the intersection so that a picture can be snapped of the culprit. Not only is this flash distracting for the driver that somehow broke the law, but it is distracting for all other drivers near the intersection.
Supposedly, the tickets and fines that are sent out as a result of these cameras add to the revenue of the particular cities they are located in, thus helping the local economy. If that is true, how many tickets are really sent out (after being reviewed) just because it helps the city's revenue? Isn't that just as bad as forcing officers to have a quota of tickets that they have to write? And, how much can a few tickets help a struggling local economy? I personally believe that these cameras should be gotten rid of, and replaced with actual human officers who can asses each situation individually, thus eliminating one step of the process already in place.
What do you think? Should these cameras be gotten rid of? Do you think they actually help communities in any way economically?
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