Red-light runners sue Cary (NC)

[The Straight Story]

Red-light runners sue Cary
Lawsuit: yellow lights too brief

Four Wake County drivers have asked a judge to tear up their tickets for running red lights in Cary, arguing that fleeting yellow lights on traffic signals did not give them enough time to stop safely.

In a lawsuit filed Nov. 30 in Wake Superior Court, Brian Ceccarelli of Apex and three other drivers say they received $50 tickets after Cary's red-light cameras caught them running red lights.

The four drivers contend that Cary does not comply with state Department of Transportation standards that set minimum duration times for yellow lights based on traffic speed at the intersection.

The drivers also seek to turn their case into a class-action lawsuit on behalf of other drivers who have been caught by Cary's red-light cameras.

The five-page lawsuit contends Cary's enforcement of the traffic ordinance is "arbitrary and capricious."

http://www.carynews.com/2010/12/18/24889/red-light-runners-sue-cary.html

[OneGrassRoot]

1. Dayum, so I'm not going crazy....

I drive through that area frequently and thought the yellow lights were WAY too short in duration.

Interesting.

:hi:

[brewens]

2. Yeah, if you're 1000 ft from a stoplight, it turns yellow, you

stand on the gas and still get a red light and a ticket? Something must be wrong! Teach your drivers that yellow means you let off the gas and make sure not to run a red light, not charge the light.

[11 Bravo]

4. If, as the suit claims, the lights are set for a lower speed than the actual speed limit ...

then plaintiffs may have merit in their claim that the light did not afford them ample time to safely stop.

[brewens]

13. It's possible. Here we had our Native American tribe expand

their tribal police, and start aggressively patrolling their reservation several years ago. They were challenged by a couple of cranks that got nailed for speeding. They claimed they didn't recognize the authority of the tribal police. It was really because they wanted to be able to get away with speeding and/or were racist.
These were the same kind of guys that would raise hell about any kind of a tax increase to pay for more law enforcement. Something they would be glad to have as long as it was aimed at druggies or Illegal aliens. You'd think they would love it that we got the extra officers out there courtesy of the tribe. They were used to yokel sheriffs that would mostly look the other way when rednecks were involved.

[pokercat999]

9. Wimp, u sound way overly cautious to me. Bet u never caused

even one crash!

[brewens]

14. Ya got that right! Not even a ticket since 1981. n/t

[Bluzmann57]

3. Yellow does not mean speed up

to get through the light. It means caution: light about to turn red. Slow down.

[11 Bravo]

5. What ... does ... a ... yellow .. light ... mean? (Obligatory "Taxi" reference.)

[Recovered Repug]

7. You must have never seen "Starman".

Red means stop. Green means go. Yellow means go very fast.

[OneGrassRoot]

8. True, but when it turns yellow and someone is riding your ass...

if you're close enough to the intersection to easily get through the yellow, rather than slam on the brakes and risk being hit, that is the best choice, imho.

The yellow lights in Cary are definitely of much shorter duration than usual, so the choices are often slam on the brakes and risk being hit or hope you get through the yellow light.

:shrug:

[hobbit709]

6. Been more than one town using cameras caught doing that.

Seems the intersections with cameras have a yellow that averages shorter than intersections without cameras.

http://blog.motorists.org/6-cities-that-were-caught-shortening-yellow-light-times-for-profit/

[MrScorpio]

10. Sadly, these things have happened elsewhere.. And it's ALL about the money

6 Cities That Were Caught Shortening Yellow Light Times For Profit
Posted on March 26th, 2008 in Red-Light Cameras, Yellow Light Duration | Comments (201)

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.

Some local governments have ignored the safety benefit of increasing the yellow light time and decided to install red-light cameras, shorten the yellow light duration, and collect the profits instead.

Here are some of the cities that have been caught with short yellow light times over the past few years:

Important note: These news stories were collected from the archives of TheNewspaper.com, an excellent resource for anyone interested in traffic laws and other motorist issues. If you subscribe to TheNewspaper.com’s feed, you’ll never miss the latest news. It makes an excellent complement to this blog.

1) Chattanooga, Tennessee
The city of Chattanooga was forced refund $8800 in red light cameras tickets issued to motorists trapped by an illegally short yellow time. The refund only occurred after a motorist challenged his citation by insisting that the yellow light time of 3.0 seconds was too short. LaserCraft, the private vendor that runs the camera program in return for a cut of the profits, provided the judge with a computer database that asserted the yellow was 3.8 seconds at that location.

The judge then personally checked the intersection in question was timed at three seconds while other nearby locations had about four seconds of yellow warning. City traffic engineer John Van Winkle told Bean that “a mix up with the turn arrow” was responsible and that the bare minimum for the light should be 3.9 seconds.

The rest: http://blog.motorists.org/6-cities-that-were-caught-shortening-yellow-light-times-for-profit/

[hobbit709]

11. It was ALWAYS about the money.

They all saw it as a cheap way to make money. It's the high tech version of the old speed trap.

[superduperfarleft]

12. Red light cameras are just a cash-grab which do nothing ot make roads safer.

It just causes people to start slamming on the brakes the minute the light turns yellow.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

15. Red Light Cameras are a perfect monkey wrenching opportunity

The are cash machines for the contractors who operate them and give the city a cut. Hurt the hardware and you invert the profit margin and they will stop using them