Traffic cameras raise one town’s ticket rate from $8,000/mo to $250,000/mo

Posted on 13 August 2008 by


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One town in Washington with an annual budget of $4.6 million dollars has seen their monthly ticket revenue rise from $8,000 to nearly $250,000 (about $3 million per year)! The increase is due to installation of traffic cameras which capture red light and speeding violations 24×7. The popularity of these cameras is likely to increase as states seek additional revenue sources. If you think beating one of these tickets is easy, remember that the entire violation is caught on video. Your best defense may be a radar detector with safety camera database like Escort’s Passport 9500i or a visit to a traffic camera database site such as Photoenforced — or, you could just drive the speed limit and stop at red lights.

Cop cameras don’t just catch speeders, they raise cash via BoingBoing

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Wayne is a diehard Blackberry user and consultant specializing in Sage MAS90 Accounting Software. He lives in Glastonbury CT with his two children. When not helping them with their homework or pushing the latest school fundraiser off on his co-workers, he is active hiking, Scuba Diving and investigating all manner of technology.

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  • Joel McLaughlin

    These things SUCK. Some things you may not know:

    1. Almost ALWAYS money for these tickets need to go to someplace else. The cities CONTRACT it out. We found this out when my wife got nailed and we tried to pay for it on the day it was due.

    2. Your license gets NO points and your insurance company isn’t notified. As we all know, those 2 will result in a increase in your insurance rates which is almost as bad or worse than the ticket itself. Without this, then all your out is the cost of the ticket. I find it weird how this is supposed to deter me from running the light excpet to avoid the hassle.

    3. Technology, as we all know, is rarely perfect. I know they have officers check out all of the pics, but that has to be a mind numbing job and they probably assume things when they shouldn’t.

    4. If you run a light, and don’t cause any problems like say at 2 am…..why is there even a need for a ticket??

    I find these cameras to be reprehensible and the only reasons Cities put this up is REVENUE!

  • Joel McLaughlin

    Oh and the Dash Express uses Trapster to both show you speed traps, red light cams and also let you report them. So the Dash can be used as a tool against DA MAN!

  • http://www.graphical-illusion.com Elodie

    I understand sometimes traffic limits are a bit low, or you need to be over to stay at the sped of traffic, whatever. But red lights? Would people really have any kind of justification for runnign a red light? That’s the most dangerous thing ever. Wtf. That’s a good use of photo ticket things.

  • Joel McLaughlin

    Elodie: I agree….it’s dangerous. However it happens from time to time. Plus I personally can see times you may have to run a red light to actually avoid a accident. For example, say you were going a bit fast but within the limit and you were only 5-6 ft from the light and it changed from yellow to red or from green to yellow and just at the instant your in the intersection, it turns red. Does it catch you and the other 4-5 people that go through or just you?? It’s also not particularly safe to panic stop if the light is just changing. In that case, you just go through because it’s safer than slamming the brakes on. Machines are impartial. They can’t see the things from the perspective as a human. Humans not being at the location where the camera is at PLUS having a limited field of view (they can only see what the camera presents….not other influences you may be able to see when your actually there) can’t be very impartial when they think technology is infallible. Most police officers I know can get this way thanks to complacency. They know technology can fail, but see the camera work well often enough that they can’t be impartial when it does present a questionable image.

    That and only the owner of the vehicle gets the ticket….not the driver. Say you loan your car to a famuily member who lives outside the hosue and they run a redlight. You get the ticket, not them (probably why they don’t point you too). Also, I highly question ANY study that say these increase safety when alot of the time these “studies” are conducted by either law enforcement or agencies or companies that are being paid by the state or law enforcement agency. There’s TOO MANY places where corruption can enter in these red light camera systems.