SFist: Union City Traffic Light Scam

julie04

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 20:45:40 -0800

Red-light cameras are often billed as a great way to improve traffic safety and prevent speeding. ________________________________________ julie california dui

julie04

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 20:35:49 -0800

Short yellow light times at intersections have been shown to increase the number of traffic violations and accidents. Conversely, increasing the yellow light duration can dramatically reduce red-light violations at an intersection. ________________________________________________ julie california dui

bchess

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 10:29:01 -0800

my typos post post = first post under 3 seconds = at 3 seconds

bchess

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 10:24:29 -0800

wsanders: in your post post you claim that there is no legal limit to yellow light times. Now you're simply claiming that the lights in question are over the legal limits. You're wrong on both accounts. The source story on motorists.org reports that the times for the lights were originally under 3 seconds. The city lost the case. Of course, that was 2005 so this makes this really old news.

wsanders

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 10:11:43 -0800

I am right right right. I guarantee you that none of the lights in question are under the values specified in Table 4D-102(CA). Most of these crybabies are whiners going 50 in a 35. If you're going 15 over the limit, and you can't stop in time for the light, tough shit.

Tendernob

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 09:03:04 -0800

Issuing ticket refunds to screwed-over motorists isn't enough. What about their increased insurance premiums? The costs of traffic school?

zippy_monster

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 01:21:49 -0800

@wsanders: wrong, wrong wrong. First see: http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d11/vc21455_7.htm Then see page 4D-50 here: http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/traffops/signtech/mutcdsupp/pdf/camutcd/CAMUTCD-Part4.pdf

Jonathan Neil

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 18:07:46 -0800

wsanders, what do radar guns have to do with traffic safety? i'd say they are more about revenue collection.

Shibi

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 14:42:00 -0800

Fortunately, my MUNI route does not take me "out there" to the Great Beyond -- or my bus drivers would all receive tickets for running the falsely-stale yellows.

manys

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 13:07:40 -0800

Yeah, going south would put you in Milpitas, The Capital Of San Jose.

wsanders

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 12:49:06 -0800

There is no fixed "legal limit" for yellow lights. It is an engineering best practice, and the range of acceptable timings is fairly large. Since the discussions of this topic mostly consist of remarks like "f*** the police" instead of acual facts about the timing changes I have little sympathy for anyone getting ticketed. Rememeber, judges and legislators care f***-all about traffic safety - the California Highway Patrol was prohibited from using radar until about 10 years ago. A fairly coherent discussion of the yellow light timing issues: http://knowledge.fhwa.dot.gov/cops/OpsPublic.nsf/discussionDisplay?Open&id=0AD50D70C392E58985257105000E48DA&Group=Signals&tab=DISCUSSION

carney

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 12:23:13 -0800

I would fashion a guess that all cities that have these cameras have adjusted their yellows to near/below this "legal limit" of... yellowness. How long is that supposed to be, anyway?

tack

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 12:12:28 -0800

Union City is north of Fremont. Between Fremont and Hayward. Not South.