Text 14203, 54 rader
Skriven 2008-04-18 10:14:46 av Robert Bashe (2:2448/44)
  Kommentar till text 14195 av Dale Shipp (1:261/1466.0)
Ärende: Government greed (was: Property prices)
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Dale Shipp wrote to Paul Lentz on Thursday April 17 2008 at 23:32:

PL>> Not to mention money-making schemes like RedLight Cameras to generate
PL>> revenue (btw... Dallas is crying cause their redlight cameras aren't
PL>> making enough money... boo hoo!).

DS> I recently read that a city (maybe it was Dallas, don't recall) had
DS> decided to take out the redlight cameras because it made their revenue
DS> go *down*. It seems that the cameras were making people obey the law
DS> for a change, hence not as many tickets and those given were for
DS> lessor amounts than before.

Amusing story... naturally, the excuse given for such things is always that
they reduce accidents, not that they generate revenue.

In Germany, there are (to my knowledge) no redlight cameras, but instead
automatic radar-actuated cameras that take a nice picture of you and your
license plate if you are exceeding the speed limit. The consequences are the
usual: three weeks later (useless for safety purposes), you get a ticket in the
mail that you can pay (usual) or dispute (lotsa luck) - your picture is
generally included, just so that you know what's what.

These "speeding" cameras are set up on metal posts in places designed to be
invisible (for example behind a traffic sign), and are painted in camouflage
colors (dirty brown and green) to make them hard to see. As a rule, their
presence is also not announced by signs. So much for the excuse that they are
there to increase traffic safety.

The people who generally get photographed are "outsiders", i.e. non-locals who
don't know where the camers are. The locals brake (sometimes fairly violently)
immediately before the cameras so that the speed of the car is below the level
that would actuate the camera, then after they pass the camera, they give gas
and drive "normally" again.

Sometimes some "public-spirited" folks shoot out the camera lens, paint the
lens with black spray paint, or even saw down the metal pole holding the camera
(no mean feat, as the things are armored for obvious reasons). Naturally that's
punishable, but you nearly never hear of anyone being caught. One time an
installation (in Hattingen, southern Ruhr valley) was sawed down three times
over a period of around four months, and the last time the perpetrators threw
the camera into a nearby river. After that, the installation was abandoned...
expenses doubtless exceeded the income ;-/

DS> In addition, cameras usually give a cut of the proceeds to some
DS> company who is managing them (sort of like the lotteries do).

This, hoever, doesn't happen in Germany, since only the government can operate
such installations here and may NOT farm them out to private companies. That
also applies to manual radar speed checks, incidentally.

Cheers, Bob

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