Reply to Top traffic cameras bring in $1 million PER WEEK

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[quote=Anonymous]My concern with the proliferation of traffic cameras in DC is the simultaneous decrease in real enforcement by police using tickets that carry points.  As others have pointed out, relying solely on cameras means people can drive drunk/high, weave between lanes, blow through stop signs and red lights, graze pedestrians in crosswalks, drag race Dodge Challengers, drive the wrong way down one-way streets, etc. all day every day as long as there's no camera present.  Even then, cameras don't check for half of that list.

So, it's not a question of "Do speed cameras work?"  It's a question of "Does replacing traditional traffic enforcement with a system of automated camera-based enforcement work?"  In my observation, the answer is no.  Again, this doesn't mean cameras aren't effective and should be part of the equation.  It's just that phasing out traditional enforcement had major unintended (I would assume) consequences.

Also, this whole notion that because black drivers get more tickets than other groups (i.e. whites), the system is therefore racist is completely meaningless unless there's evidence that black drivers break traffic laws at rates similar to other groups.  Anecdotally, I don't think this is even close to true in DC, though it certainly may be elsewhere.  Spend some time driving WOTP, and then spend some time driving EOTR (or in close-in PG for that matter) and make a note of driving styles with respect to traffic laws.  Or even do it in one location in the city and see who the most egregious violators are on average.  [/quote]

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