The interesting thing about the increase in rear end accidents is that they don’t mention if there is was a reduction in sideswipes. Running redlights kills many motorist every year in side collisions and it’s interesting that the studies don’t look at the affects of the cameras on those.

Additionally, is it the cameras that are causing rear end accidents or is it the idiots drivers who follow to closely, drive to aggressively and assume that yellow means speed up?

http://highwayrobbery.net/

Alex, do you have any data to back up your assertion that the cameras reduce the number of serious or fatal injuries?

I know I rely less on common sense when approaching red light camera intersections and more on the fear of a huge ticket, and often slam on my brakes once the approaching light turns yellow. Its been proven time and time again that police fix the lights so that the time between yellow and red is less than in other places where there is no camera, often breaking state and local traffic laws to that affect.

Is there suddenly a shortage of lawyers? Why is there no class action or ACLU lawsuit about this?

Manipulating yellow light durations and ignoring research that proves these cameras actually cause dramatically high accident rates – WTF – sounds ILLEGAL to me.

Why can’t we do anything to ban them?

One night I almost rear-ended someone because the flash scared the crap out of me. It might even have been flashing at the car behind me. It’s very distracting, even if you know it’s there. You start to think, crap, did I run that light? How was I supposed to make a left turn? Am I going to get a ticket? Yada, yada, yada and the next thing you know, you’re slamming your breaks to avoid nailing the person in front of you.