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Green Light, Go; Yellow Light, Pay
Radley Balko links to a story about a not-quite-Hoyle revenue generating tactic employed by the powers that be in Maryland. Seems that on a road full of traffic signals whose yellow light lasts 4 seconds, there's one equipped with a traffic camera that lasts only 2.7, making it more likely that people will run a red. Of course, this is a bad thing from a safety point of view—studies indicate that longer yellows reduce accidents. But making it more likely that people will run lights and be caught doing it is a pretty sweet way to make up those ubiquitous budget shortfalls. On a related note, I suspect that Delaware stays afloat entirely on the basis of that little strip of I-95 where the speed limit drops from 65 to 55 for a few miles.
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Jim|6.16.03 @ 1:13AM|#
Move to Michigan.... rush hour is Lord of fhe Flies here. A couple of years ago they had a 'crackdown' on speeders on I-696 - they ticketed the people driving over 90 mph. A comedian once called that freeway the 'world's fastest ditch'.
Michigan state makes most of its money off of property taxes, I think. Traffic laws in general are just another tax in practice everywhere.
Croesus|6.16.03 @ 1:38AM|#
Jim,
Yes, I was always struck by the fact that Michigan has horrible roads, yet it is the HQ of the "Big Three."
The Lonewacko Blog|6.16.03 @ 2:09AM|#
The WeeklyStandard had a whole series on these cameras, including an interview with a guy in FL who's made their study his life's work. here
|6.16.03 @ 5:20AM|#
It's a road tax. I favor just making the lights go from green to red, and nail anybody caught in the intersection. In fact you don't really need the light.
|6.16.03 @ 7:32AM|#
People in Maryland have no rights. Get used to it.
|6.16.03 @ 9:09AM|#
Who needs traffic lights? What we need are private roads.
Croesus|6.16.03 @ 10:04AM|#
Who needs roads? We should build skyways!!!!! :)
Justin Slotman|6.16.03 @ 10:10AM|#
Here's the link to the infamous Delaware: The Worst State TNR cover story of nearly a year ago:
http://www.tnr.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20020819&s=chait081902
Must've been a slow week....
W.Szpilman|6.16.03 @ 11:04AM|#
But if they REALLY want to start collecting easy money, they oughta start ticketing cars that emit those low-pitched, bone-permeating bass tones, puking ugly rap sounds at the world as they drive down our streets.
My son calls 'em "The cries from hell."