3 ms·

Lets do this with math (I'm a reformed red-light runner). Say Houston has 100 traffic accidents with red-light cameras (daily), but 130 red-light running accide

Lets do this with math (I'm a reformed red-light runner). Say Houston has 100 traffic accidents with red-light cameras (daily), but 130 red-light running accidents without. Say each accident causes $10,000 of property and personal damage (daily). Then you have $300,000 daily carnage prevented by the red-light cameras (in my case I paid $75 at a particular red-light & right-turn likely to cause accidents about 0.1% of the time, when performed by professional a stunt man like myself & 0.100001% of the time by everyone else). OK, $300,000 daily saved in 'ouchies'. It takes 4,000 red-light citations (paid daily) to be the equal. The particular red-light I ran, by my layman's guesstimate, could ring up 500-700 tickets a day, for those unfamiliar with its wily ways. So it nets $50,000 daily. OK, so I've never been ticketed as a full-speed-crossing-4-lanes-of active-traffic red-light camera (maybe they have elevated fines?). But a single signal getting $50,000/day seems a bit steep for the supposed harm to be prevented. Here's what the true stats are for Houston accident rates: https://www.pstriallaw.com/car-accidents/facts-and-statistics/ https://www.pstriallaw.com/car-accidents/facts-and-statistic...

Waterluvian 7y ago
I have no opinions on red light cameras, but you're omitting the cost where you hit and kill my kid. And the part where you're being obedience trained to drive safer elsewhere too.
- powerbroker 7y ago
  Well, I'm sensitive to that too, since 5 months ago, an at-fault driver illegally entered an intersection that I had the full green on, and I hit, and rolled her minivan. Total damages was about $45,000, and thank God everyone, including my passenger, walked away with minor bruises (45 MPH relative speeds at impact). So, swap out my initial $10,000, for the $45,000. Everyone's wreck has their own costs... long story short, we throw massive weights around with immense kinetic energies when we push down on that accelerator.
  - powerbroker 7y ago
    I've added the costs, many of which are the headaches of repair logistics, and the immeasurable pains that occur when someone dies or is injured, and say, I like the Texas red-light cameras.

Waterluvian 7y ago

I have no opinions on red light cameras, but you're omitting the cost where you hit and kill my kid. And the part where you're being obedience trained to drive safer elsewhere too.

powerbroker 7y ago
Well, I'm sensitive to that too, since 5 months ago, an at-fault driver illegally entered an intersection that I had the full green on, and I hit, and rolled her minivan. Total damages was about $45,000, and thank God everyone, including my passenger, walked away with minor bruises (45 MPH relative speeds at impact). So, swap out my initial $10,000, for the $45,000. Everyone's wreck has their own costs... long story short, we throw massive weights around with immense kinetic energies when we push down on that accelerator.
- powerbroker 7y ago
  I've added the costs, many of which are the headaches of repair logistics, and the immeasurable pains that occur when someone dies or is injured, and say, I like the Texas red-light cameras.