TexasCHLforum.com

Lots of ways around the red light cameras, including stopping for the light.

A dirty or obscured license plate may get you around the cameras, but it is more likely to get you stopped other times. The law specifically says the license plate must be clean and readable. It forbids such things as covers that change the color or reflectiveness of the plate. That was part of the big stink two years ago. The law forbid a frame which obscures any design element of the plate, and the Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that even one star blocked was illegal. That part was fixed last year so now it is the letters and the state name that must be visible.

NcongruNt wrote: I love how they report this paragraph as if it's a problem:

Exacerbating the drain is a new state law requiring that municipalities send half of their net red-light-running camera revenue to Austin and post signs alerting drivers of upcoming camera installations. Also, city records indicate Dallas has lengthened yellow-light intervals on 12 of its 62 monitored traffic signals, giving motorists more time to beat a red light.

So less people are running red lights, and that's a problem. It seems the folks down at The Dallas Morning News are beginning to master the principles or Incsoc and doublespeak.

Oh, they mastered it quite well. Consider that they glossed over the word net. The law says the city can keep all of the revenue that is needed to pay for the camera system. They only have to send in half of the profit from it.

The rest is supposed to be put into a special fund for traffic safety related issues anyway, so there should be no drain on the general fund unless the overall system is not paying for itself.

TexAg08 wrote:We just got those red light cameras here in College Station. According to the press releases from the PD and TxDOT, private companies run the cameras and collect the money from the tickets, however, any unpaid ticket is not enforced by the local PD, it actually goes on your credit record. The tickets also do not show up on your driving record.

This is now illegal, sort of. The contractor can still runt he system and collect the money, but they must be paid based on the costs of the system and not on the number of tickets written> They cannot collect a per ticket fee, sot he profits for cities will be dropping drastically, and I expect to see less cameras going up.

For anyone interested, here is the law on red light cameras:
http://tlo2.tlc.state.tx.us/statutes/do ... 707.001.00

On a previously mentioned note, College Station was one of the experimental cities for the speeding cameras which was to be erected on highway 6 south, but I never heard what happened to that.

If it was being done by a city, it is now illegal. This law says cities cannot use speed cameras:

http://tlo2.tlc.state.tx.us/statutes/do ... 42.2035.00

I note that it does not say the state cannot do it, and I don't think it forbids the counties from doing it either. At least, as far as I know, those two could do it but I have not heard anything about DPS wanting it yet.

I have had almost the same problem as Charles. Despite my being able to show people how to photoshop pictures, most people on juries still seem to believe a photo as gospel. Law enforcement now has software to check on a picture, but the picture has to be checked and registered first, then the data can be verified. It should now come down to the credibility of the witness testifying that this is the picture he took and it is real, but so many believe photos.

Of course, that explains why the Weekly World News has so many readers who believe in batboy.

Well, I have to admit that I agree with Charles on the use of the cameras to gain money. Any other story is a lie.

There are much better ways for safety, including the longer yellow light. The one I prefer is to keep the yellow light the same time it was before the camera went in, but delay the green for two seconds. Red in all directions for two seconds. People will get used to the longer yellow (I think) and after a while the rate of red light runners would creep back up. The delay before green solves that.

And to calm everyone's mind on the speed cameras, they are not just around the corner in Texas any longer. The last legislature, when they finally made red light cameras legal, made the speed cameras illegal.

EDIT: Looking at this more closely, I think a County might be able to get away with it, and the state certainly could. It is not as sure as I thought.

Transportation Code Section 542.2035. LIMITATION ON MUNICIPALITIES.
(a) A municipality may not implement or operate an automated traffic control system with respect to a highway or street under its jurisdiction for the purpose of enforcing compliance with posted speed limits. The attorney general shall enforce this subsection.
(b) In this section, "automated traffic control system" means a photographic device, radar device, laser device, or other electrical or mechanical device designed to:
(1) record the speed of a motor vehicle; and
(2) obtain one or more photographs or other recorded images of: (A) the vehicle;
(B) the license plate attached to the vehicle;
or
(C) the operator of the vehicle