San Diego drops red-light cameras

[Zorro]

San Diego on Friday became the latest in a cadre of California cities turning their backs on red-light cameras — aloof intersection sentries that have prompted $490 tickets to be mailed to 20,000 motorists per year here.

Mayor Bob Filner announced his decision to take down the city’s 21 cameras at a news conference set at the most prolific intersection for the tickets, North Harbor Drive and West Grape Street, near San Diego International Airport.

A crew went to work immediately taking down “photo enforced” signs throughout the city.

“Seems to me that such a program can only be justified if there are demonstrable facts that prove that they raise the safety awareness and decrease accidents in our city,” Filner said of the cameras. “The data, in fact, does not really prove it.”

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/feb/01/san-diego-red-light-cameras-filner-halts/

Good riddance, I say.

[Warpy]

1. It stopped a lot of red light running around here

even in intersections without the cameras. I don't think it stopped many accidents, exchanging rear ending for the ones that used to happen because one chisler too many tried to get through the intersection before the light turned from yellow to red.

Most of the annoyance came when they were first installed because they were poorly aimed and caught a lot of left turners who had to wait for the yellow at intersections without left turn arrows. Once they were re aimed, all they did is make people a little more polite about running red lights.

[JayhawkSD]

4. Any actual statistics?

You "don't think" and suppose that it merely "exchanged rear enders for red light runners." Rear enders are one hell of a lot less likely to be fatal than red light runners, and if you hit someone because they stopped for a red light... What kind of society have we become?

[ProgressiveProfessor]

2. Recent court decisions also made them uneconomic

And indeed, good riddance

[pkdu]

3. As someone wo paid over $600 overall in Riverside, CA for a right turn on red made "illegal" Without

Full and proper notice, I'm keeping note of the Pols who decicided this was a revenue generator on the device of one campaign contrib..I mean vendor.

[blkmusclmachine]

5. They still have all the intersection cameras to capture your license plate number,

in case they decide they need to know your whereabouts. In every city in the nation, and most places abroad, too.

[Lochloosa]

6. That just not true in Florida blkmuscimachine.

My company installs the cameras all over Florida. They are used for traffic control only. There is no taping or capturing plate numbers.