Red Light Cameras - How is this happening!?!

Today, I was listening to the radio and the subject of Red Light Cameras (RLC as they are known in the business) came up.

What I would like to know is: Why are we tolerating these?"

The facts are that even though they reduce the running of red lights (usually in the 90% range), they INCREASE the number of rear end accidents! On the radio this morning, the pro-RLC person made the argument that an increase in rear-end accidents of ~2% is a small price to pay for the ~90% reduction in running red lights. Sounds good, eh? Well, I did some investigating and found that on average, the number of accidents at RLC intersections actually went up after the RLC was installed.

Now, you will ask: "How can it be that accidents wents up when there was a 90% reduction in red light violations and only a 2% increase in rear-end accidents?!?" Well, the answer is simple! The majority of red light violations do not cause an accident! The pro-RLC people are comparing apples to oranges!

The fact of the matter is that governments are installing RLCs under the guise of increasing safety but are infact causing a more unsafe condition. Their true motive is money.

I urge every person who have been involved in an RLC caused accident to sue: 1) the RLC's owner (usually Lockheed-Martin) and 2) the local government who installed it.

The other thing that bothers me about this money grab scheme is the legality! They ticket the registered owner of the vehicle and not the actual driver. Also, usually these tickets are non-contestible!

This is just wrong!