The best way to reduce incidents at intersections is to increase the time between one direction's red light and theo ther green. People run red lights but few incidents occur with long duration between red to green. The problem they are trying to solve is not so much red light runners but rather the accidents that result from them.

 

While both of those links are interested, especially the one that quotes the figures for the Texas Transportaton Institute I still couldn't find any links to tell me what the state standards are for yellow lights.

It said there was a full study that was available in a PDF format but I didn't see a way to get it.

EDITDOH! the bottom line is the link to the pdf. It just didn't look like a link.)

I am just a few blocks from my state rep and have a friend who is a state rep, I want to give it to them

What is the ITE it mentions?

i like the fact that the other link says that most of the red light tickets were issued for less than 1/2 second "technical" violations but most of the crashes happened due to 5 second "practical" violations.

 

Thats not the conclusion of the traffic studies..

http://www.thenewspaper.com/rlc/docs...ternatives.pdf

 

There is no pat answer for yellow duration but rather a series of calculations based upon a number factors at any particular intersection.

The PDF link is in the article.. http://www.thenewspaper.com/rlc/docs...ternatives.pdf

 

Nope. You're not alone.

Although I'm kinda fond of the cameras. I just wish they were criminal violations including photos of the drivers. Waaay too many close calls with yahoos blowing through lights at double the posted limit. I just wish the one near my house was 1 block further south at Independence and Plano Parkway... I see the same gray-hair drive through that light 2 afternoons a week. Apparently she took drivers' ed before traffic lights were invented.

 

wow... a study done after I graduated.... love how times change I stand corrected... and at that... by Aggies...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...5100301844.html

http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/08/862.asp

http://www.designnine.com/news/?q=node/542

And the articles go on forever about how the number of accidents increase as redlight running decreases at camera controlled intersections...

 

And no body actively tries to run red lights... people actively try to run yellow lights which end up with them running reds. Too many people forget that yellow means to stop if you can.... not to hurry up.

 

At least one reason that accidents increase is because the companies that run the red lights shorten the yellow cycle to increase revenue. Many cites contractually have to turn over control since it is private enterprise that run the lights and they are interested in bottom line.. just a second shorter yellow can turn a loser intersection into a profitable one.

http://www.hwysafety.com/hwy_redlight_orwell.htm

During the 79th Texas Legislature in 2005, camera-critic state Rep. Gary Elkins harped on this point:


"In almost every city where red light cameras have been allowed there has been a manipulation of traffic signals to increase tickets by reducing the duration of yellow lights," Elkins cautioned. "It really comes down to money."
Texas law doesn't prevent cities from adjusting yellow light times however they choose to maximize revenue. In fact, reducing yellow light times may contribute to an unlikely result noted by numerous researchers over the last year: red light cameras turn out to increase, not decrease accidents overall. All the "traffic safety" malarkey you hear from camera proponents really is just a smokescreen; the stats on the ground don't justify the rhetoric. "Cameras can't make judgment calls," Rep. Elkins pointed out.

 

Just got notification in the mail from the city of Richardson that said not to worry you would only get a $75 civil fine and it wouldn't go on your driving record.

 

yeah that is what the poeple on the Russ Martin show were talking about.... since it is a civil matter, there is not a question about the motivation behind the cameras... I am pretty sure the speed cameras in Europe are a criminal matter for actual law enforcement.... but these are not.