The Roanoke Police Department is moving forward with plans to install up to nine red-light cameras at high-traffic intersections around the city.

Supporters of the technology say the cameras reduce wrecks and improve overall safety.

Opponents believe the technology can be faulty as well as a violation of privacy rights.

What's your take?

 I think they should do it.  Is it asking too much to expect drivers to stop for red lights, drive safely and not endanger other motorists?  I have almost been hit several times by cars running red lights.  Obey the laws or pay up!

The idea is good.  But..........we have potential post office closings, in progress rest area closings, and other state cutbacks due to

the economy and state budget crisis.  How in the world does the city of Roanoke justify spending $84,600 per month now on cameras?

What leadership Roanoke has.......thank God I live in Salem.  

Great, about time, I am driving and suprise me how many people
do not follow the driving rules.

Turning on the wrong side of the intersection, going too far after
the stop line, and changing lines without giving signals.

Other drivers should be able to report things like that
to the police officers.

Gesy



 

 $84,000 a month to give out a handful of $50 tickets a day are you kidding me. Roanoke city can hardly pay its teachers and the city council wants to fund this. This isnt New York City or heck it isnt even Charlotte this isnt that big of a deal in Roanoke. And I know inevitably someone is going to say well if this saves just one life then the cost is worth blah blah blah... I have an idea instead traffic cameras how about those of you so concerned about your safety wait an extra few seconds when the light turns green and make sure the oncoming traffic has stopped or slowed to stop before jamming on the accelerator to barrel full force into the intersection yourself. Cameras are not going to stop the few nut job drivers in Roanoke who don't give a d*@& about safe driving in the first place, all they are going to do is waste tax money and cause people to slam on the breaks every time the sunlight hits the yellow light in the wrong way.

 I'm sorry but I'm all for safety and hate seeing people bust through a red light but to justify spending this amount of money to hand out red light tickets is nuts. As stated in the other post the city cannot even afford to pay teachers, keep schools funded and open and they complain about being broke and not having money to do anything. For this to even be concidered at this point is nuts and everyone should take a look at their elected officials. 84,600.00 a month, come on now. How much is the average police officer paid a year? They claim they don't have enough officers, well 84,600.00 per month would sure fund some new positions. Not only would that help with trafffic enforcement and I say help not solve but would also help with crime in general. It makes me sick to see this could possibly happen when the whole state is in shambles with the current economy. How they could even concider this is just beyond me. No wonder the state, cities and counties are in the shape their in. I can't even believe Deputy Chief Tim Jones would even have the nerve to ask for this.

Lets also look at the additional cost here for the courts, the time a person has to take away from work to prove they wern't driving the car. Additional staffing to handle the increase in paper work and of you have to pay someone to sit and monitor this thing 24/7 and so on and so on. That 84,600.00 just grew a ton after you add in all the additional costs that would follow this. I sure hope everyone is firing off emails to the city officials protesting this.

I'm all for doing more to catch red-light violators since I have new teenage drivers but instead of cameras, maybe the city could actually do something positive and hire some more officers. In a failing economy and people all around the Roanoke Valley losing jobs, should we continue to install more big brothers? After all they'd be spending up to 1 million annually. The city must have money to spend, so why not hire people? Wouldn't this make more sense? Perhaps they could even go to other intersections that also have "red-light" runners. Now that's a novel idea!

   Totally against it.Not only the cost but Orwellion aspect of again being photographed..soon well be like Europe..on camera at all times.Plus get this..its $50 and no points if you pay up..but if you challenge it and lose your penalized with points against your license and a larger fine.Sounds like theyre more interested in quick bucks than safety..I mean someone who wants to run red lights habitually isnt going to let $50 stop them matter of fact they may donate a finger to boot as they run the light....Also many police are actually against this saying the equiptment is known to fail.And at the huge price tag..Sounds like a lose,lose situation..I mean if they have to close libraries one day a week here as they are doing now..because they cant afford $25,000 to keep them open..money for these cameras could go to a much better cause..

 It's my understanding that the company that rents the red-light cameras to the localities gets a cut of every fine that is collected on top of the rental fee. Ahhhhh....don't you just LOVE capitalism...????

stephanieo:

The Roanoke Police Department is moving forward with plans to install up to nine red-light cameras at high-traffic intersections around the city.

Supporters of the technology say the cameras reduce wrecks and improve overall safety.

Opponents believe the technology can be faulty as well as a violation of privacy rights.

What's your take?

 Just another example of communism in America.Any excuse ie; safety,law enforcement,or whatever they can dream up.What about a thing called the constitution.That's right, they done away with that year's ago.( Seat-belt law's,Anti-Smoking laws and the list go's on)Thanks to the torries/democrats/liberals/socialist/communist and just those who have absolutly no idea what the founder's vision was.

 Roobygyrl (Obama Nut would be a better handle) - yes I do love Capitalism.  Quick learnin' for ya...  Capitalism is a company that profits from making cameras and shares some profit back with the Govt thru taxes (which the consumer ultimately pays); Socialism is when a company (or Gov't owned) that charges even more to make the same cameras with little or no profit to pay for out-of-control Gov't spending (which the consumer still ultimately pays for - AEP for example).

On, topic - didn't the VA General Assy tell VA Beach to remove their stop-light cameras a few years ago b/c it infringed on privacy rights and public outrage? 

We learn from history that we learn nothing from history. - George Bernard Shaw

I think there's a lot better things the city of Roanoke could be spending our money on. The court system has become a cash cow for the local goverments. Why pick on real criminals when you can harass other wise law abiding citizens for quick cash?

Although the intention might seem good, the impact that this will make is minimal. People will still run the lights! We see that now at the locations that do have cameras. Based on the numbers in this article, the cost effectiveness is extremely poor. Some of the data presented in this article raised a few questions and concerns.

Last year the report says 81 crashes occurred in those 10 locations. How many people total, ran stop lights in each location? Just calculating a basic average, that's 8.1 crashes per location. Are the crashes due to running a stop light, or putting on breaks to avoid running the stop light causing the person behind them to hit the vehicle?

Jones says that they must catch 56 violators per day to recoup the cost of $84,000 per month! (reminder: 380 summons were given last year for violations) Assuming that there were on average 56 violations per day for 2008 (20,440) and 81 crashes in those 10 locations, less that 1% (.39%) of violations that resulted in a crash. Would the camera still have stopped these?

Are the 380 summones issued in 2008, from the locations that are being considered now or in total for Roanoke? Considering 380*$50= $19,000/yr minimally OR 380*$100=$38,000/yr maximally(if you fight and fail) recouped from the summoned violators.....far from 1million/yr--the cost to purchase, install and continually maintain the cameras, and I'm sure they must be more police to monitor the location which is an additonal cost not mentioned since "huge number of red light violations go unenforced simply because there can't be an officer at every intersection."

At first I thought the $84,000 would be the one time cost, but this is a monthly amount to be met to just break even! If it were, then it would be a good way for to make some money--but it's not.  Based of the information gathered from the article, I believe it is not  either a very cost effective or smart idea.  There may be some gaps in the article too.

Lastly, my reasoning process inquires what is the percentage of intersection wrecks due to running a light in comparison to wrecks caused by other negligliences in non-intersection areas. Should efforts be extended in other these areas too?

 I think this is a wonderful idea!  I am tired of having to dodge people who think it is ok to run the lights.  I think Williamson Rd and Elm they should also get the people who keep turning after their turn arrow is gone.  I was almost hit there last weekend and when I honked my horn the passenger shot the finger at me.  If I would have had a camera I could have gotten her!!!

I own a car my daughter drives.  I rarely if ever drive this car.  If she runs a red light, I will get blamed because my name is on the title.  These cameras do not work, as they cannot prove who was driving the vehicle at the time it went through a particular intersection.  How do I "prove" I was not the driver??  What madness.

In addition, how many times have we seen traffic signals malfunction and turn red within seconds.  You simply cannot respond in time to stop before they change, if you are within a certain distance of them.  Will we see a surge of rear-end crashes as drivers screech to a halt because of these cameras?

Mr Bowers, get the dollar signs out of your eyes!