4 ms·

I do support red light cameras. Mostly because I'm a pedestrian that listens to music when walking around town. I have nearly been hit by careless drivers on

I do support red light cameras. Mostly because I'm a pedestrian that listens to music when walking around town. I have nearly been hit by careless drivers on more than one occasion. However, I think they should be more lenient on drivers that just barely infringe on a red light by a few milliseconds. And I think they should never be used to ticket speeders. Obviously, I also don't support shortening yellow lights to rake in more ticket dollars.

toomuchtodo 14y ago
Shouldn't you be a less careless pedestrian by not listening to music while in the road?
sukuriant 14y ago
Please keep your eyes attentive. Whatever the laws in your country province or state about hitting a pedestrian, you are small and a car is big, and at any reasonable speed, there's a chance it will kill you. Pedestrians need more respect of the big metal things zooming around and potentially not doing everything right (hey, the brakes could fail)
mistercow 14y ago
>I do support red light cameras. Mostly because I'm a pedestrian that listens to music when walking around town. I have nearly been hit by careless drivers on more than one occasion. Then you should not support red light cameras. Instead, you should support longer yellow lights, or accelerating to beat them. Studies have pretty well nailed down that traffic light cameras do not reduce accidents. Any benefit they have as a deterrent is canceled by drivers slamming on the brakes at yellow lights. Worse, many local governments have been caught illegally shortening yellow lights to increase ticket revenue from traffic light cameras. That's particularly awful because increasing the duration of the yellow light has been shown to be one of the most reliable ways to reduce traffic light accidents.
- mistercow 14y ago
  Wow, I should not edit comments when I'm that tired. I added ", or accelerating to beat them" to the wrong line that ended with "yellow lights".
WalterBright 14y ago
Having the right of way and being in the right doesn't help you if you are dead right. I don't listen to music while I walk/jog, pretty much for just that reason.
ruggeri 14y ago
Wow. Every comment except one trashed you. Certainly it would be safer if pedestrians (like me!) didn't listen to music while walking, but I'm not willing to concede the principle that traffic laws be obeyed. Just because I didn't do every last proactive thing to avoid an accident doesn't excuse the person who caused it.
- mistercow 14y ago
  It's really sad to see the "automotive road entitlement" effect illustrated so clearly. There was a time when roads were for pedestrians and gatherings of people and, well, culture. Then the auto industry used propaganda to convince everyone that the road is only for cars, and I can't help but think that we might be a little worse off for it.
  - sukuriant 14y ago
    Times change; now, many of the roads _are_ just for cars

toomuchtodo 14y ago

Shouldn't you be a less careless pedestrian by not listening to music while in the road?

sukuriant 14y ago

Please keep your eyes attentive. Whatever the laws in your country province or state about hitting a pedestrian, you are small and a car is big, and at any reasonable speed, there's a chance it will kill you. Pedestrians need more respect of the big metal things zooming around and potentially not doing everything right (hey, the brakes could fail)

mistercow 14y ago

>I do support red light cameras. Mostly because I'm a pedestrian that listens to music when walking around town. I have nearly been hit by careless drivers on more than one occasion. Then you should not support red light cameras. Instead, you should support longer yellow lights, or accelerating to beat them. Studies have pretty well nailed down that traffic light cameras do not reduce accidents. Any benefit they have as a deterrent is canceled by drivers slamming on the brakes at yellow lights. Worse, many local governments have been caught illegally shortening yellow lights to increase ticket revenue from traffic light cameras. That's particularly awful because increasing the duration of the yellow light has been shown to be one of the most reliable ways to reduce traffic light accidents.

mistercow 14y ago
Wow, I should not edit comments when I'm that tired. I added ", or accelerating to beat them" to the wrong line that ended with "yellow lights".

WalterBright 14y ago

Having the right of way and being in the right doesn't help you if you are dead right. I don't listen to music while I walk/jog, pretty much for just that reason.

ruggeri 14y ago

Wow. Every comment except one trashed you. Certainly it would be safer if pedestrians (like me!) didn't listen to music while walking, but I'm not willing to concede the principle that traffic laws be obeyed. Just because I didn't do every last proactive thing to avoid an accident doesn't excuse the person who caused it.

mistercow 14y ago
It's really sad to see the "automotive road entitlement" effect illustrated so clearly. There was a time when roads were for pedestrians and gatherings of people and, well, culture. Then the auto industry used propaganda to convince everyone that the road is only for cars, and I can't help but think that we might be a little worse off for it.
- sukuriant 14y ago
  Times change; now, many of the roads _are_ just for cars