Ticket Cameras at traffic lights... Are they ethical?

Basically these are high speed cameras at traffic lights that if you do something wrong, you get a ticket in the mail. The ticket comes about 2 weeks later and has 3 or 4 pics of you running the light. There is a 1 - 800 number you can call, but the agencies are always out of state. Are these ethical?



You do not get a court date to be innocent until provin guilty. Most of the time your local government does not even take payment. It has to be paid online or sent in an envelope. I live in Colorado, and I had to send my payment to Arizona.



I got stuck in the middle of the intersection because of a public transit bus that went through the light but then blocked the intersection because of the bus stop. I am FURIOUS.Ticket Cameras at traffic lights... Are they ethical?
Welcome to the world of 'big brother'

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=鈥?/a>
If the ticket was issued in error, if it wasn't you, or if there was no way you could have avoided the violation due to the fault of other drivers, then you can contest the ticket. Read the ticket for details for how to do this. If it doesn't say, contact a lawyer who specializes in that thing (I linked one site that does it in Colorado; there are probably others.)



Also review a site on contesting tickets (http://www.highwayrobbery.net/). It focuses on California law, but a lot of it will apply.



I'm not saying you have to get a lawyer. I was just giving an option. You can probably contest it according to instructions on the ticket.



Virginia, Maryland, and DC all set up red light cameras "to save lives." A study was later run that determined that simply lengthening the yellow light prevented as many accidents as the red light cameras did. So is the goal to raise money, or save lives?



Virginia decided that the whole reason was to save lives, removed the cameras, and lengthened the yellow lights. Maryland's legislature decided the study was flawed, and kept the cameras in place. And D.C. simply admitted that the whole purpose was to raise revenue (they don't have enough tax base.) I'm glad I live in Virginia, but I still have to watch out when visiting DC or Maryland. (Actually, I just learned that some parts of Virginia still allow the cameras, but they're gone in my jurisdiction.)



Virginia DOT ran a further study that determined that the red light cameras actually increased accidents.



Really, try to fight the ticket. It sounds like you're in the right here.



P.S. If you have a GPS, there are Point-of-interest (POI) programs that mark intersections where the cameras are located, so you are aware of their presence.Ticket Cameras at traffic lights... Are they ethical?
I agree with "Sequi" about how the system works.



The system does not penalize a vehicle that's entered the intersection while the light is yellow or green. It is set up to catch those who cross the sensor prior to entering the intersection when the light is red.
i really dislike these. and yet it is one more step to automating our world. yuck! seriously, what if you let someonr borrow your car or have unavoidable circumstances like yours where the car in front of you blocks everything or there's an accident?Ticket Cameras at traffic lights... Are they ethical?
if you knew how many cameras actually watched you a day you'd never leave the house again.
If you break the law what difference does it make if your caught by a human or a machine. There are some advantages to it, you don't have to spend 10 or 15 minutes on the side of the road with an officer that might feel like it's a good day for a lecture.



If you got a ticket you didn't deserve that would not be good at all but they seem to be working nicely from what I understand. In all states I believe you have to insure that the intersection ahead of you is clear of other traffic before entering it in order to prevent the intersection from being blocked and causing a 4 way traffic jam, it got you, sorry but you said it yourself.



I don't like the idea of sending the money out of state or even out of town, I wasn't aware of this possibility and that thought irritates me.
I guess I don't get where ethics enter into this discussion.



The cameras don't catch you "doing something wrong." The are triggered when you cross a certain point in the intersection when you should not. That's all.



Why would the agency being out of state be unethical? What difference does it make where they are?



You may not get a court date, but I cannot believe there's no way for you to contest this ticket. I think you need to read the documents you received a little closer.



It sounds to me like you need to contest your citation. You may or may not have violated Colorado law by what you did, but there's no way anyone here can tell without more information.



And I have to confess to not being totally sure what you're saying in your last comment. You're suggesting the yellow light at a camera-observed intersection is half as long as the yellow light at non-observed intersection? I think you'll want to do some research on that first - it's highly unlikely. Educate yourself a little on red light cameras (there's lots of information on the internet and you've already been given a good link) and then you can address this situation with a little education under your belt.