I gave seen drivers stop at a red light and if there is no cross traffiic they continue even though the light is still red. what’s the rush? the light will change maybe in 20 seconds.

part of the problem is local government. they don’t have the lights timed to facilitate traffic flow. there is technology that can acccomplish this and this technology also adjusts the timing of the traffic light for rush hour, special events, and weekend traffic. if the city that has red light cameras can afford them, then they ought to be able to afford timers for those traffic lights.

but why not? the city that has you stopping at almost every intersection gets a bonus. cars idling at intersections use more gas, and therefore their owners are buying more gas. and for every dollar that a driver spends on gas, there is six or seven cents a dollar (depending on your state rate) that goes into the state’s pocket. and that’s in addition to what they get from the fool that gets caught on camera.

Well then find me an article where red light cameras are being discussed for a town that DOES NOT include talk about how much money is going to be made.

“Many cameras will provide up to a half-second of extra time for motorists who are traveling as the light turns red.”

They also get the towns to shorten yellow-light times to ‘enhance revenue’, to use some highway-men speak. In fact, many systems have been thrown out in court, just for that reason.

“According to the IIHS, modern red light cameras monitor traffic just before the crosswalk or stop line of an intersection.”

Exactly. For most cameras, it’s not the people ‘running’ the red lights in the classic sense, rather it’s the people that didn’t make a full stop, BEHIND THE LINE, before making a right turn on red. In some case it’s over 95% of the tickets. Do the towns ever tell you that their goal is to, essentially, ticket every driver that simply wants to make a right turn on red, as has been done (without tickets) for decades? By the way, I now shut my right-turn signal and sit-out the light if there’s a camera – I simply don’t trust them, considering all the mistakes they make. One the light is green, I put on my signal and then turn.

“Whether you love red light cameras or hate them, chances are you’ll find people on the same side of the fence as you. Recently, the Kansas City Star reported that red light cameras have made drivers more cautious, but at the same time, the incidence of rear-end collisions has increased at intersections that use traffic enforcement cameras.”

Thank you for including a bit of the other side. This article otherwise looks like a press release from Red-Flex (one of the camera companies).