Having just been in Chicago, one of the most prevalent subject of conversation (despite the football season of course) is the ever-rising number of tickets being given to drivers. The Daley administration first made Chicago the most expensive parking city in the country with a corrupt deal that bordered on the criminal. The city was also accused of corrupt dealings with the company handling red-light ticking. However, none of this has curtailed the city contractors and officials clipping motorists for revenue in the form of endless ticketing. The latest outrage was the city reducing the time of yellow lights — a small tweak of a second that resulted in nearly $8 million in new tickets. Drivers are being treated as sources for revenue and hit with the equivalent of speed traps and short lights to generate more and more tickets.
Near my mother’s house in Chicago, she constantly warns me of such a trap that suddenly reduces car speed to a crawl. The reason is that it is being treated as a school zone even though there is no school nearby. All of her neighbors have been clipped despite driving less then 40 miles per hour on the main street.
The short yellow lights resulted in thousands of new $100 tickets from red light cameras. These cameras seem to function as a new hidden tax but the cost is not just cash by destroying the driving records of citizens – impacting insurance and, for many, their jobs.
Chicago may have picked up this idea from the Florida Department of Transportation which in 2011 secretly reduced the length of yellow lights and bringing in a windfall. Since most people have a common notion of the length of time, a small tweak can catch them off guard and snare their cars in a red light run.
It would seem logical that all yellow lights should have a uniform standard time to avoid this type of manipulation. At a minimum, Chicagoans have got to rise up against this type of revenue-generated traffic trap. People are struggling in Chicago and they do not need city officials manipulating lights to find new ways to siphon us more of their money (before they have to pay the over-priced meters of course).
Source: Time
“No good comes of having the federal government involved.”
You sure you don’t want to rethink that? You sound like the teenager that “hates their parents” because they got grounded. I’ll chalk that up to hyperbole.
I could care less if you leave your red lights on for 10 seconds or the signals change every minute or 5 minutes. What I care about is when the light goes to yellow, I can expect that yellow to last the same in Arizona as it does in Minnesota, etc. The point is very simple: in the real world, green means go (to everyone), red means stop (to everyone) and yellow means something different to everyone.
BTW, what shape are your stop signs? What colors do you use for your traffic signals? What side of the road do you “legally” drive on in Arizona?
Olly – we have optional stop signs in Arizona, you only stop if you feel like it.
ModernMiner. No, yellow – stop, red – stop, green – pause before moving (to allow speeders through).
My husband goes nuts when I stop at yellow lights. I’m going to have fun with this!
I thought it was 57 states. Anyway…
Paul,
Would you please explain how standardizing the yellow light duration infringes the rights of the states to establish their own traffic control procedures? I’m not talking about anything more than having a standard expectation of the duration of the yellow light within the local government’s traffic management plan.
Obviously I’m a bit daft here because I’m not following your logic.
Olly – those things not specically held for the government are left to the states (I paraphrase). Working with the federal government is never simple. And they always have a one-size fits all approach to all problems. So, as we have learned today, depending on the recommended speed of the street there is a recommended time for the yellow light. Do you think the government would take that standard? Or, would they take the one in my community which keeps the red running an extra 2 seconds in all directions to prevent accidents. Or would they just decide that 3 seconds was the perfect time for all lights because that is what they have in D.C. so it should be fine elsewhere.
No good comes of having the federal government involved.
Paul C. Schulte
Olly – we are 50 states.
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We are the oily burg.
davidm2575
Dredd, that link to Shakespearean insults is hilarious.
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Here is one for non-Catlicks: Martin Luther id King.
No, Olly. Public safety is not ahead of everything else (think West, Texas). State’s rights come before everything else – no regs come before everything else. That’s the track for the next several years.
docmadison – think of the Real West as the last bastion of freedom left in the United States.
Good link Doc. I’m not clear why national standards haven’t been established. This seems like a no-brainer; that assumes of course our public officials put public safety ahead of everything else.
Olly – we are 50 states. And I, personally, do not want to see the government’s one-size fits all solution to problems. For example, to get rid of our dust problem in Maricopa County they wanted us to pave or concrete the Sonoran Desert. It is a solution, but we live with the dust storms (known only to the effete weather people as haboobs) because of the beauty of the desert.
And think about it folks, concrete from Phoenix to the Mexican border, soaking up the hot sun, radiating back as ‘heat sink’ at night. Does that really make sense? Still, we were told to do it.
davidm2575
Dredd, that link to Shakespearean insults is hilarious.
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I thought so too.
Here are the yellow light standards from the National Motorists Assoc.
Yellow Light Time Standards
Legislation mandating proper yellow light times is mostly non-existent. It is one of the goals of this project to establish national standards to protect motorists.
For the purposes of this project, we have put together a general guide to appropriate yellow light durations.
This guide is intended to help identify potentially dangerous short yellow light times. Whenever possible, suspicious timings will be confirmed by a trained, objective traffic engineer.
Recommended Yellow Light Times
Three seconds should be the absolute minimum time for any intersection.
25 MPH — 3.0 Seconds
30 MPH — 3.5 Seconds
35 MPH — 4.0 Seconds
40 MPH — 4.5 Seconds
45 MPH — 5.0 Seconds
50 MPH — 5.5 Seconds
55 MPH — 6.0 Seconds
Here is the link:
http://www.shortyellowlights.com/standards/
You’ll have to go to the link to see the equation they use to engineer this. It is not possible to cut and paste.
Motion denied. It will not ne admitted as evidence, counselor Schulte.
Nick – we are appealing this sucker right now No screwing around.
“I like Darren’s idea that the timing/duration of the yellow light should be standardized so that from town to town, state to state, you have some sort of an idea of how much time you might have to stop or go through the yellow light.”
After getting a red light ticket from a CHP many years ago in Pasadena, I researched the Ca law on the matter of length of yellow. At that time, and I don’t know if it’s still current, the Ca. Vehicle Code said the yellow should be on for one second for each ten miles an hour of speed limit. I went to the intersection and timed it, and that’s exactly what it was. I beat the ticket because I was able to show that I had most likely crossed the limit line – the first line in the crosswalk, before the light turned red. This a very important distinction to make, as it may seem to many that you did run the light, but according to the law, you didn’t.
I drove that roundabout. It is insane. All roads in Rome are insane. But offering any Roman traffic as evidence against roundabouts is highly prejudicial and will not be marked as evidence!!
Nick – Roman round abouts always have to be evidence of the ineffectiveness of roundabouts in high traffic areas. They are exhibits A-Z.
Paul – you got it!
david, To construct roundabouts in big cities you need lots of real estate. I believe the European ones have been there for a long time. When you build a large roundabout in a city you will need to knock down many businesses. It can be done, but w/ pain for many small businesses, having to relocate.
I won’t drive in countries that drive on the left side. I don’t want to retrain my brain on vacation. PaulS represents the thoughts of many people who hate roundabouts. When my calm old man was teaching me how to drive he said, “Love the roundabout, there is nothing that says you can’t stay in the circle for more than one rotation. If you’re not sure where to exit, just slowly go around again.” He helped make me love them.
Olly,
Oh, I’m not objective. Neither is Scotus.
Sorry to disappoint. I guess I’ve corrupted this noted neutral forum.
Here you go, Karen.
http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/htm/2009r1r2/html_index.htm
Notice all the chapters on traffic control signals. Should prove interesting if they standardize them.
BTW. The feds offer guidelines – not mandates.
Oldfox,
I agree completely regarding driving skills today. Another sign technology doesn’t always improve our lives.
Doc,
I would suggest if your first motive is to disparage a party over the greater violation of principle then I misjudged your objectivity.
oldfox
I hope you have other opportunities to share more of your guerrilla stories. They are very amusing.
Also, can you share where you live? I’d like to avoid it.