Comments on: Residents says … Obey the law and you won’t have to worry about the cameras http://www.fortbendstar.com/2013/02/22/residents-says-obey-the-law-and-you-wont-have-to-worry-about-the-cameras/ Local News, Classifieds, Real Estate for Sugar Land, Richmond, Stafford, Missouri City, Katy Fri, 31 May 2013 23:39:02 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 By: H. F. Van Der Grinten http://www.fortbendstar.com/2013/02/22/residents-says-obey-the-law-and-you-wont-have-to-worry-about-the-cameras/#comment-3410 H. F. Van Der Grinten Wed, 27 Feb 2013 21:11:30 +0000 http://www.fortbendstar.com/?p=28197#comment-3410 Robert Proffitt apparently did not encounter the short yellow that existed for many months on westbound W Airport at Eldridge. This period was a half second too short until I exposed it. The city promptly corrected this “inadvertent error”, but refused to refund the fines paid by those who were unfairly ticketed. The violation rate dropped by 20% after the correction. Red light cameras unfairly punish drivers for making a bad guess at the moment a green light turns yellow. Drivers do not have enough information to make a 100% correct stop or go decision every time. The only way to be 100% correct is to be already stopped when the light turns yellow e.g. because of heavy stop and go traffic. In this situation you could decide to not proceed and then slowly approach the intersection, stop again and wait for the next green light. Every other situation requires guess work and a wrong guess should not cost $75. If the city wants to turn a traffic light into a $75 guessing game, how about paying drivers every time they guess right? Please read my reply to Rochelle Hite below. Robert Proffitt apparently did not encounter the short yellow that existed for many months on westbound W Airport at Eldridge. This period was a half second too short until I exposed it. The city promptly corrected this “inadvertent error”, but refused to refund the fines paid by those who were unfairly ticketed. The violation rate dropped by 20% after the correction.

Red light cameras unfairly punish drivers for making a bad guess at the moment a green light turns yellow. Drivers do not have enough information to make a 100% correct stop or go decision every time. The only way to be 100% correct is to be already stopped when the light turns yellow e.g. because of heavy stop and go traffic. In this situation you could decide to not proceed and then slowly approach the intersection, stop again and wait for the next green light. Every other situation requires guess work and a wrong guess should not cost $75. If the city wants to turn a traffic light into a $75 guessing game, how about paying drivers every time they guess right?

Please read my reply to Rochelle Hite below.

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