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Henry8

Sorry, but I don't believe anything the cops say anymore. They lost my respect when they started pushing for those less-than-useless red light cameras.

Aside from $$$, here's 2 reasons politicians OK the cameras:

1. They think we like the cameras!
There's Astroturf Lobbying by the camera Industry. (Google Rynski and Astroturf.) In addition to churning out "studies" favoring the cameras, their PR firms are manufacturing a fake grassroots movement via comments their paid employees post on news articles like this one. The politicians read the web, assume the pro-cam comments represent genuine public support, so they vote to install cameras.

2. Politicians - and their extended family - are immune to the tickets.
Next door in California 1.5 million privately-owned cars have plates protected from easy look up, effectively invisible to agencies trying to process camera violations. The "protected" list includes politicians, bureaucrats, their families, and ADULT children! Unbelievable? Read Cal Veh Code 1808.4. If you think this is unfair and don't want it to happen in Nevada, call your local state legislators and insist that any camera law be crafted to that everyone, even our privileged bureaucrats, gets their tickets. If you live or work in California, ask your legislators to support AB 3 by Assemblyman Jeff Miller. (For comparison, the State of IL has only 5867 cars on its protected list, and TX has 18,323.)

Aside from dreams of revenue, here's two reasons why politicians OK the cameras:

1. They think we like the cameras!
In October, a blog exposed Astroturf Lobbying in the red light cam Industry. (To read it, Google Rynski and Astroturf.) Astroturf Lobbying is when a PR firm manufactures a fake grassroots movement via comments posted on news articles like this one. The politicians read newspapers and the web, just like anyone else. They see the pro-camera comments, assume they represent genuine public support, and so they vote to install cameras.

2. Politicians - and their extended family - are immune to the tickets.
A newspaper revealed that in California 1.5 million privately-owned cars have plate numbers protected from easy look up, effectively invisible to agencies trying to process red light camera violations. The "protected" list includes local politicians, bureaucrats, retired cops, other govt. employees, and their families and ADULT children! Unbelievable? Read Cal. Veh. Code 1808.4. How many are on the list in Nevada?

Gee...

They have baseline data already, so why not do as all engineering studies suggest, and lengthen the yellows, see how the data changes. My prediction? If they lengthen a yellow by 1/2 sec., violations will go down 40 - 50%. If they lengthen a yellow by 1.0 sec., violations will go down 60 - 70%. Lengthening the yellows has the advangage that it's cheap and easy to do, so can be done all over town, not just at expensively-equipped camera intersections.

Will drivers get used to the longer yellows, and run those too? No! Running stays down - it does not "rebound." Proof? See the table at http://www.highwayrobbery.net/redlightca...

Henry