Missouri lawmaker wants to put end to cameras at intersections

A lawmaker from southeast Missouri wants to ban police cameras at intersections aimed at catching red-light violators.

Some communities now place cameras atop stoplights. Violators receive citations in the mail. Arnold and Florissant use the cameras to try and curb the growing problem of red-light runners.

But if state Sen. Jason Crowell, R-Cape Girardeau, succeeds in passing a bill he has proposed for the 2006 session, those cameras would have to come down.

Crowell cites several arguments against the cameras. Among them: Too much intrusion by government, and the fact that the car owner is fined, even if he or she isn't the driver. Crowell also said some are concerned over a funding arrangement that gives the companies installing cameras a share of the fines.

.......

A poll by Zogby International in October found that 80 percent of Missourians surveyed approved of cameras monitoring dangerous intersections. The poll was commissioned by the Missouri Insurance Coalition.


http://www.newstribune.com/articles/2005/12/27/news_state/1227050031.txt

It just didn't go over in the land of the midnight sun.. :shrug: The radars were actually shot up routinely by gunfire. http://eliteleague.co.uk/forum/images/smilies/duh!.gif

Plus, anytime radar operators were anywhere near the devices tinkering with them, they were pelted with water balloons and worse.

It was completely nuts here during the trial period!!

It might work well elsewhere.. but the city council here got rid of it and promised residents they'd never see the devices again..

intersection, when we don't have enough money for social services and decent public transit.

oh, plus the fact that the city has tried to put across that these cameras are for "controlling the traffic lights" to increase traffic flow.

the government spying on people? :sarcasm:

at a major intersection in Arnold. Someone ran a red light, and *FLASH* it took a picture of the car. I thought the flash was more distracting and dangerous than the guy running the red light.

"A poll by Zogby International in October found that 80 percent of Missourians surveyed approved of cameras monitoring dangerous intersections. The poll was commissioned by the Missouri Insurance Coalition."

.....................................................................


Remind them of who owns the representatives of the state.

I support the position of this R. Maybe the "safety for people, cough, profit," lobby, did not throw enough bread into his pot.

Intersection cameras went up with big fanfare around my community a couple of years ago, yet I have not heard one person say they were caught by them. I have heard that some of the cameras are "dummy cameras" designed to look like a real camera in an attempt to get drivers to stop at red lights. And I've noticed that some cameras do look "more sophisticated" than other cameras, which leads me to believe that most are fake.

I think this was a huge boondoggle--if people are running red lights, then time the lights to be more efficient. I used to go out for breakfast on Saturday mornings at 6 am (I wanted to let my family sleep in and didn't want to wake them knocking around the house). There would be absolutely no traffic at that time and day, yet there were certain intersections that I sat out for what seemed several minutes. A few times I cautiously slipped through the intersection, intending on telling the officer or court that I thought the light was broken. So rather than spending thousands of dollars on cameras, just time the traffic lights!!!