Mar 31 2009
Cameras: Not Just for Signals
A quick rundown on issues facing traffic cameras:
The death of the traffic camera will be from citizens rising up and making it so expensive to install/maintain them that they’re not erected in the first place. The usual scheme is for the cameras to pay for themselves through the ticket revenues. In today’s economic climate, they’ll be one of the first things to go if they don’t at least break even.
Keep in mind that one way to make them run “in the red” so to speak, is to not violate traffic regulations surrounding them. Or to avoid them. This site, for example, shows all the traffic cameras in the Denver area which allows you to plot routes around them.
The public acceptance of automated enforcement still has a long way to go, and it is in a bit of a PR hole at the moment.
