No WhiteWash!

Nate Morabito, a reporter with WJHL has complied the yellow light times for the cities in Sullivan and Washington Counties that have red light revenue cameras.  Go to the following link to read the entire article.  Caution:  Not every yellow light timed the same | TriCities.

Drivers, be aware that you stand a better chance of getting a red light ticket and rear-ended in Kingsport because of their shorter yellow light times.

Go to the link below to access the database to get the yellow light times for Johnson City, Jonesborough, and Kingsport.

Information provided by the City of Kingsport, the City of Johnson City and the Town of Jonesborough.

Read more via Caution:  Not every yellow light timed the same | TriCities.

League City, Texas refunds 1740 red light camera tickets after being caught with illegally short yellow times.

Texas has lost $130,500 in red light camera ticket refunds and cancellations after a local motorist discovered the city had been ignoring state law. Byron Schirmbeck drives through the intersection of Interstate 45 and FM 518 every day on the way to work. He noticed the amount of yellow time given to motorists seemed a bit on the short side, so he decided to check. Armed with a stopwatch, Schirmbeck clocked the interval between the green and red lights at just four seconds — 0.7 seconds shorter than the minimum required under Texas Department of Transportation TxDOT regulations at an intersection with a posted 50 MPH speed limit.

Read more via Texas: Short Yellow Brings $130,500 In Red Light Camera Refunds.

Straight through violations drop 92 percent after yellow lights are extended by one second in Loma Linda, California.

Dr Rhodes RigsbyRedflex Traffic Systems of Australia succeeded last week in blocking efforts to end red light camera ticketing in Loma Linda, California. While several members of the city council expressed a desire to uproot the automated ticketing machines, Redflex insisted that could not be done unless the city paid $534,558 in early termination penalties. The council declined to take any action at its February meeting.

The problems began after the city extended the duration of yellow lights in November. This engineering enhancement reduced the number of straight through violations to drop to near zero with the consequence that only citations for rolling right-hand turns remained. With a pricetag of $456 for each of these citations, the council had been hit with complaints about such a stiff fine for a type of violation that does not cause accidents.

"I have received a number of complaints and emails from individuals," Councilman Ovidu Popescu said. "They teach you in business that for one complaint, that’s at least ten individuals who are very upset."

Popescu and Councilman Rhodes Rigsby led the charge to terminate the camera contract immediately because the program enraged constituents without providing any safety benefit.

"I’m not sure the statistics when it comes to auto accidents — it doesn’t show a decrease in accidents," Rigsby said. "If we’re going to fine our visitors and our citizens $12 or $14 million over four years, we should at least expect a safety benefit, and I just don’t see it."

The council, on the other hand, was extremely pleased with the results of lengthening yellow lights by one second in November. The number of left-turn violations dropped 80 to 85 percent from about 240 monthly violations to about 25 or 30 a month immediately after the change. Straight through violations were reduced 92 percent.

"Lengthening yellow lights has produced a tremendous drop in violations," Rigsby said. "The statistics from January are very telling. For four intersections, there were five straight through violations in total. That is tremendous improvement in safety. We’re talking about huge success of lengthening the yellow lights… We could have had that safety with lengthening the yellow four years ago instead of installing red light cameras."

Councilman Floyd Petersen wanted to know why city staff never tried lengthening yellow before.

"Councilman Rigsby brought up the issue and pushed on it really hard," Petersen said. "We have a whole profession out there called traffic engineers. We pay these people a lot of money to figure out the best way to set up the lights. Where are these people? Why haven’t they ever suggested lengthening the yellow light? What’s the deal? They aren’t being paid off by the camera people, are they?"

City staff defended the idea of keeping the cameras and endorsed short yellows.

"If you lengthen the yellow light, you reduce the green light," Public Works Director T. Jarb Thaipejr said. "So then I will get a call from someone who said, “I waited so long at the red light";” The whole idea of traffic engineering is to move the traffic."

Popescu vowed to bring early termination to a vote next month. The contract will expire on its own in December.

via California: Longer Yellows Nearly Eliminate Violations.

Voters in Baytown, Texas file petition calling for referendum on red light cameras.

Baytown, Texas will be the next city where voters decide the fate of red light cameras. A total of 1324 residents, more than double the number required, signed a petition proposing an ordinance that would outlaw photo enforcement in Baytown. Resident Byron Schirmbeck yesterday handed the city clerk a stack of signature sheets, but he expects officials to resist placing the ordinance on the ballot.

"Our fight to hold the city accountable and remove the cameras has just started," Schirmbeck said. "The city has given every indication they intend to invalidate our petition and ignore the will of the people. Even now the city is putting up more cameras even though they know we want a vote on them."

The clerk’s office must validate at least 620 petition signatures before the city council would be asked to place the ordinance before voters, but the city council may attempt to block the petition. Earlier this year, the city of Chillicothe, Ohio was so desperate to save its photo ticketing program that it asked the state supreme court to stop the vote on the referendum — a request that the high court swiftly denied. College Station, Texas likewise spent thousands in taxpayer dollars on a lobbying effort designed to allow ticketing to continue. After the election took place, College Station’s vendor, American Traffic Solutions, used a front group to file an injunction designed to have the public vote invalidated.

These efforts ultimately failed. As in every case where a referendum on photo ticketing has appeared on the ballot, the public demanded that the automated ticketing machines be removed. Schirmbeck believes Baytown residents will vote against the cameras because the city has been fundamentally dishonest about the program. The city has been caught not only manipulating data but also shortening yellow times at intersections.

At the intersection of Garth and Baker Roads, for example, accidents increased by eleven percent with no reduction in the number of injuries. The city had falsely claimed in reports to the state department of transportation that accidents dropped 63 percent at the same location. In July, Schirmbeck caught the city using an illegally short yellow time of 3.1 seconds at Garth and Baker. Once exposed, the city increased the yellow to 4.5 seconds. As revenue dropped, however, the city quietly shortened that yellow to just 4.0 seconds. It later attempted to justify the move by erecting a "40 MPH" speed limit sign, even though the opposite side of the same road is posted at 45 MPH.

After the clerk determines the validity of the petition, the city council will vote on the proposed ordinance at the next council meeting.

via Baytown, Texas Residents Demand Vote on Reed Light Cameras.

Accidents increased after red light cameras used in Peoria, Arizona. Longer yellows cut violations 42 percent.

Peoria, Arizona city council, 8/25The number of traffic accidents doubled at locations where red light cameras were installed in Peoria, Arizona, according to data released last week at a city council study session. City data also indicate that more recent changes in intersection yellow timing have reduced the number of red light violations.

via Arizona: Peoria Cameras Increased Accidents.

Tennessee bills SB 1502 by Burchett and HB 1202 by McCord as introduced, prohibits entering into or modifying existing contracts for installation of surveillance cameras if revenues from traffic fines are shared with company; and extends traffic signals’ yellow light at intersections with surveillance cameras to five seconds.

There is another bill HB0541 by Litz SB0768 by Southerland that extends the yellow signal time to five seconds where surveillance cameras are used.  See City fights to keep its short yellow light time at red light camera locations

Cities that claim that the red-light cameras are for safety might find themselves boxed into a corner if they fight these bills in order to protect their revenue.

Legislation before the Tennessee General Assembly would prohibit private companies that install traffic cameras from receiving a portion of their fines.

Some lawmakers fear cities use traffic cameras as a revenue stream, instead of for safety.

The bill, sponsored by Knoxville Republican Tim Burchett, blocks local governments from sharing revenue from new traffic cameras after July first.

The legislation also requires existing traffic signals equipped with surveillance cameras to stay yellow for at least five seconds.

Read more via Tennessee Lawmaker Wants Truth About Red Light Cameras | WDEF News 12.

SENATE BILL 1502 By Burchett

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 6; Title 7 and Title 55, relative to surveillance cameras installed to enforce or monitor traffic laws.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE: SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 6, Chapter 54, Part 1, is amended by adding the following language as a new, appropriately designated section:
Section 6-54-1__.

After July 1, 2009, no contract shall be entered into, amended, revised or extended by any local government with any company installing or maintaining a surveillance camera used to enforce or monitor traffic at an intersection controlled by a traffic-control signal light if such contract provides that such company shares in any revenues from the traffic fines generated by the surveillance camera. SECTION 2. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 55-8-110(a), is amended by deleting subdivision (8) in its entirety and by substituting instead the following language:

(8) (A) Except as provided in subdivision (a)(8)(B), whenever in this state three-light traffic-control signals are used displaying successively green, yellow, and red lights for the direction of motorists and pedestrians, the minimum time exposure of the yellow or caution light shall be three (3) seconds. Any state agency or any political subdivision of the state that installs, owns, operates, or maintains any such traffic-control signal light shall set or cause to be set the timing-control device for the signal light in compliance with this subdivision (a)(8)(A).

(B) If a surveillance camera is installed to enforce or monitor traffic violations at an intersection which is controlled by a traffic-control signal light, the minimum time exposure of the yellow or caution light shall be five (5) seconds. No state agency or any political subdivision of the state that installs, owns, operates, or maintains a trafficcontrol signal light in an intersection that employs such a surveillance camera for the enforcement or monitoring of traffic violations shall reduce the time exposure of the yellow light at the intersection with the intended purpose of increasing the number of traffic violations. Any traffic citation issued for a traffic violation at an intersection controlled by a traffic-control signal light where the yellow light has been set to change to red prior to such five (5) second requirement is invalid.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2009, the public welfare requiring it.