Tag Archives: red-light cameras

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Red-light cameras become campaign issue

Republican Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, who’s running for governor, had this — among other things — to say to a North Texas tea party group: “Both the advocates of red light cameras and their detractors have a point. One emphasizes safety, and the other emphasizes privacy.”

Let’s hold it right there.

http://www.texastribune.org/2013/12/05/governors-race-draws-spotlight-red-light-cameras/

I am an advocate of red-light camera technology, which is being deployed in many cities across the state, including Amarillo. I see it as a safety issue. It is making it safer for people to drive without getting clobbered by idiots who ignore street lights instructing them to stop.

The other side, I am presuming from Abbott’s remark, suggests that the cameras are “invasive” and that they intrude on people’s “privacy.”

I’ve had this argument with more anti-red light camera residents in Amarillo than I care to count.

My point about the so-called privacy issue simply is this: Motorists driving vehicles on public streets, putting other people’s health and their very lives, by ignoring traffic laws have no inherent right of privacy. Period.

Some of those foes suggest that government is overreaching by allowing cities to implement these devices. They stand behind some bogus conservative political theory that says government has no right to intrude in this manner.

My answer? That is pure crap.

The state used to prohibit cities from deploying these cameras. Then the Legislature changed part of its collective mind by allowing the cameras, but then requiring cities to dedicate revenue raised from fines to traffic safety improvements. That’s all fine. The state also takes a significant cut of the revenue raised. That’s OK too.

The people elected to govern cities deserve the chance to determine what’s best for the communities. Amarillo’s elected commission (now city council) decided in 2008 that it was in the city’s best interest to deploy these cameras at selected intersections. Have the cameras stopped red-light runners? No. They have, however, deterred some folks from doing it and they have raised revenue to pay for improvements in traffic signalization around the city.

I am tiring rapidly, though, of the argument that the anti-camera crowd keeps harping on regarding privacy. These clowns aren’t protecting anything except their bogus “right” to break traffic laws.

Tom Pauken, another GOP candidate for governor, opposes the cameras. He says they’re intent is to raise money, not make streets safer. Democratic state Sen. Wendy Davis of Fort Worth — which has the cameras deployed — also is running for governor; she favors the cameras.

Let us have this debate. I want to hear candidates for governor explain rationally how privacy matters when it involves motorists traveling along publicly owned streets.

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GOP platform goofs on red-light cams

Tom Pauken is a smart guy who’s running for Texas governor.

He’s running as a “true conservative,” which means — I am going to presume — that he favors small government and less intrusion into local affairs.

Why, then, does this stalwart Republican say he opposes cities’ authority to install red-light cameras at dangerous intersections? “I support a statewide ban on red-light cameras as prescribed in the Texas Republican Party’s platform,” Pauken said in a recent news release.

What? The party platform opposes cities’ right to act on their own to curb what they believe to be a problem at certain intersections?

Amarillo has deployed these cameras for the past five years. They’ve had mixed success. People are still running red lights, either just blazing through them or taking off from a complete stop to violate the law. The Amarillo City Council, instead of retreating from the strategy to reduce these infractions, has expanded the number of intersections that will be patrolled by the electronic devices. Good job, City Hall.

Back to Pauken’s point about endorsing the GOP platform.

Republicans keep yammering about government interference. They decry “big government” paternalism. They keep saying localities should have the right to determine policy issues. Amarillo acted in its own interest when it decided to activate the cameras. What’s good for Amarillo isn’t good, say, for Lubbock — which once deployed the cameras, only to take them down because too many people griped about them.

By my reckoning, Pauken’s insistence that the GOP platform is correct doesn’t make sense coming from the so-called “true conservative.”

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Bring on the red-light cameras

Amarillo city officials are about to expand the use of those pesky red-light cameras in use to catch those who ignore the command to stop at red lights.

Go for it, City Hall.

I’ve been all for the cameras since their initial deployment about six years ago. Too many motorists these days seem to believe the red light hanging from the power lines over the intersection is a suggestion, or a request, to stop their vehicle. No, it’s an order. Where I come from, lawful orders are meant to be followed.

The city will impose a grace period that will last until Nov. 1. After that date, the city gets serious with the new cameras.

I’ve long thought that public knowledge of the red-light cameras has enhanced motorists’ awareness. If a motorist knows — or believes — an intersection is being patrolled by an electronic device, he or she is likely to be more obedient when the red light glows at them from above.

No, the cameras aren’t the perfect solution. Indeed, the city is deploying the new devices because of continued law-breaking by motorists. The city has used the revenue generated to help pay for the additional cameras as well as enhance other areas of traffic management — which state law requires of cities that use these cameras.

Past city commissions have shown a tendency toward passivity at times when issues like this arise. The current commission has taken on the challenge, just as those who sat on the commission immediately prior to them.

One bit of good news comes from City Traffic Engineer Jerry Bird, who says recidivism is low, meaning that those who get cited by the city aren’t repeating. Fine. Keep them deployed.

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Stay the course with red-light cams

I am tipping my proverbial cap to the Amarillo City Commission for showing the courage of its convictions relating to the red-light cameras it has deployed at intersections throughout the city.

Rather than buckling to a vocal minority of critics, commissioners are increasing the number of cameras. They’re adding even more electronic eyes to watch for those individuals who cannot seem to avoid running through red lights and endangering other motorists and pedestrians.

It’s an interesting display of backbone. Lubbock installed red-light cameras some years ago and then pulled them down when the critics got too loud. Amarillo, on the other hand, has stood firm against the critics, telling them flat out that if you don’t want to get slapped with a fine, simply obey the law.

This criticism, incidentally, has puzzled me.

I cannot prove it from my perch, but I cannot get past this nagging notion that if someone were to conduct a thorough public opinion survey of residents regarding the red-light cameras, there would be a substantial majority of respondents who would favor them. I suspect there might be a large “no opinion” result in the sampling, but those who do have an opinion on the red-light cameras would endorse them — in my humble view.

However, the red-light camera critics in Amarillo have been vocal. They’ve managed to bluff and bluster more loudly than their small numbers would suggest.

Let’s understand one key element of the cameras’ deployment: The city isn’t raking in large sums of money for frills and needless expenses. State law requires cities to use the revenue derived from the fines they collect to go directly toward traffic improvement projects. Amarillo has done that.

So now the city is marching ahead with its program to persuade motorists to obey the red traffic lights that command them to “Stop.”

Maybe one day, the scofflaws will get the message.