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.