Florida quietly shortened yellow light standards & lengths, resulting in more red light camera ticke

Originally posted by Miracula

This isn't just annoying when it takes your money.

It will lead to more accidents.

Whoever thought of shortening those timers should be charged with attempted manslaughter.

edit on 17-5-2013 by Miracula because: (no reason given)

That statement alone should be enough grounds for a civil law sue against the cities,state and the money grabbing corporate corruption running this cameras for engaging in this type of practices, but sadly people do not have energy this days to fight for what is right and that is why the corruption is winning and we are paying.

reply to post by truthseeker2113


I have not problems here in Ga with the lights time relapse or lack off, but I like to go Florida a lot so thanks for the link because next time I am in Florida I will be taking into consideration the video suggestions.

You could also argue that changing the lights timings is a way to keep people aware of their surroundings while driving, making them have to pay attention to the road etc rather than relying on guessing the times a light will change and actually watching for it to change.

I'm not sure on the sequence in the USA but here in the UK we have Green for go if the way is clear, but give way to pedestrians who are crossing, amber after green means stop unless you are already over the stop line or are too close to safely stop, red for stop, then red and amber together means stop and don't pass until the green light shows.
The amber lights are usually on for around 3 seconds here, and at 30mph you can travel around 40 metres in those three seconds and safely stop a car in 23 metres, so unless you're not paying attention to the road, there should be no reason for you to be going through the lights when they're red.

Originally posted by truthseeker2113
Therefore, I disseminate to you all, at your own peril of course, the included link. Or so I hope, as i said, this will be my first attempt at embedding something here, so expect an edit! And cheers to those of us who are responsible drivers looking to not get caught up in some bureaucratic moneymaking scheme.

"At your own peril," indeed.

You may not be aware of it, but they tested these products on the "Mythbusters" tv show several years ago. They don't work.

There's another problem, though -- there are laws against shielding your license plate number. The penalties for that may actually be stiffer than the fine for running a red light. So a cop, walking through a mall parking lot, who spots a license plate shielding device, could write a ticket for a violation although you were not even in your car and the car wasn't moving.

Double jeopardy, there.

Originally posted by snarky412
I hate short yellow lights, especially when pulling a trailer.
It's a damned or do situation some times......
Either you slam on brakes and risk sliding halfway out in the middle of the road or go through depending how much time has elapsed after the green turns yellow [and how fast you're going].

I wonder how many people here are familiar with the "safety" defense? The system can't say no to a safety defense, if it's a close call. You tell the judge (yes you have to fight the ticket) "When the light turned yellow I looked into my rearview and saw the car behind me was far too close for me to stop before the intersection without risking injury to myself and others" or "When the light turned yellow I made the judgment that I was too close to the intersection to stop without risking injury to myself or others due to blocking the crosswalk". At least that's how it was in Michigan when my brother was ticketed. The duty of a driver to maintain the safety of living human beings trumps statutory requirements. And you must frame it in the discussion as a duty. Don't mention rights.

reply to post by Aloysius the Gaul


Funny that this got posted at this time. I noticed recently that in Arizona, at every intersection where there is a red light camera, not only is the yellow light 1 or 2 seconds shorter than everywhere else, but the light for a left turn is green only long enough to allow 2 cars to turn before it turns yellow. Then the yellow light allows one more car to sneak through.

Stand on the corner and watch these intersections at rush hour and you'll see a long, dangerous line in the left-turn lane blocking the left lane of a 2-lane street, and cars trying to get around them fast enough to make the green light.

Needless to say, not only do they catch many more people going through the red light, but there are also many more accidents in these intersections. I know this for a fact because I have one a few hundred feet from where I live.

I thought they installed these red light cameras to prevent accidents. Isn't that what they keep telling us?

There is no other explanation for the shortened yellow and green arrow lights than to purposely cause more violations - NONE!

In league city Texas they were caught doing this and had to refund a bunch of red light tickets. Now they have all been removed. source

Originally posted by marg6043

Originally posted by Miracula

This isn't just annoying when it takes your money.

It will lead to more accidents.

Whoever thought of shortening those timers should be charged with attempted manslaughter.

edit on 17-5-2013 by Miracula because: (no reason given)

That statement alone should be enough grounds for a civil law sue against the cities,state and the money grabbing corporate corruption running this cameras for engaging in this type of practices, but sadly people do not have energy this days to fight for what is right and that is why the corruption is winning and we are paying.

If they want to speed the timers up and reduce a drivers HABITUAL applying of brakes based upon their past experience of a intersections normal light times then they need to advertise it on the local radio, TV, and at the intersection weeks or months in advance.

Dunno about in the US, but here in the UK, a yellow light does NOT mean "Quick Quick! Last chance! Go, Now, Quick!", it means "The lights are about to change to red. Perhaps you should consider stopping."

You get caught for jumping a shortened yellow, your own fault. You could have waited.

they did this in most of chicago. Now I simply just stay out of the city at all cost.

My sister got a few red light tickets when they first shortened yellow lights. 120 a pop!!!! City of chicago can kiss my asphalt

Originally posted by BMorris
Dunno about in the US, but here in the UK, a yellow light does NOT mean "Quick Quick! Last chance! Go, Now, Quick!", it means "The lights are about to change to red. Perhaps you should consider stopping."

You get caught for jumping a shortened yellow, your own fault. You could have waited.

this is about when the yellow light first comes on and you are already at the "demark entrance point" of the intersection, and maybe there is a slow car ahead of you...you enter the intersection on the yellow, and it turns red before you are out the intersection and a camera snaps a picture of your rear plate, showing you in the intersection on a red.

reply to post by Bob Sholtz
Could it be that the insurance industry is also involved and they didn't have enough accidents last year or, perhaps, the insurance industry is getting ready to raise premiums on people with traffic infractions.

The money doesn't stop at the camera companies and state fund gains, I am guessing that the insurance industry may have endorsed this or sponsored some study to help the process along.

On another note, I really like the lights in my area which have the countdown timers for the pedestrian crossings. The timer counts down from 15 or 30 depending on the intersection and number lanes the pedestrians get to cross and when it hits zero, the light goes yellow.
I can read the numbers from a good enough distance to know if I'm even going to be crossing in a yellow situation. If I have any wiggle room in my speed vs. the speed limit, I may press the pedal a bit but most of the time I just know that I'm going to be okay. And yes, once it goes yellow, I think most of the lights in my area flip to red quite quickly so gauging it all based on the zero count, green-->yellow transition keeps me out of trouble.

Before they implemented the very first red light camera they should have standardized the length of time at which the light changes happen. Unfortunately, once again, they put a system in place under the guise of safety that is really intended to make money.

I hate money! It truly is the root of all evil.

For goodness sakes why don't they just raise the taxes a little. This kind of thing is so sleazy. It's also going to create more traffic accidents as people panic and speed through lights or stomp their brakes too hard and fast.

Handing traffic enforcement to a private company who makes a profit on it.

This whole profit-prison system has to be one of the most deranged systems ever created.
Unfortunately the window of change is passed and it's just going to be endless micromanaged
oppression more and more every day from here on out. It is as if the lions have been released
into the arena full of fat, sleeping sheep.

You mean in Florida you still see a yellow light?

Here in California I haven't seen one in years.

This has been going on for years.

so i guess the way to get back at them is to no matter how hard you have to apply the brakes do whatever you have to not to run a red light, even if that means whoever is tailing you will be the one who gets the flack. then look up at the camera and smile. don't give the money hungry cash strapped municipality your money at all costs, even if that means your car will be in the shop for a while.

Here in southern Arizona, the yellow lights are much shorter on lights that have cameras. The light closest to my house, if you are second in line, you will not make it through on a green light.
An article in the local news paper last month said the tickets provide 'minimal' income of about $100,000.00.

reply to post by Aloysius the Gaul


Lovely, more government greed.

Exactly what we don't need.