Cameras are a success in Quebec (for speeding & red lights)
There have been a pilot project going on for a couple months in the province of Quebec. 15 speed and red lights cameras have been installed and started sending warnings by mail. Now the pilot project is over and the results are in. Even if the cameras were actually just sending warnings out, speeding has decreased by 44%. Extreme speeding (50 km/h over the limit) is down 94%. The average speed people drive at in the zones cameras were installed is down 9 km/h. Red light violations re also down 77%. The fact that there are pretty big signs warning of the presence of the cameras probably helped a lot get those results.
Yep, but everyone hates them because they infringe on our right to break the law I've always wondered why they don't just time people between getting a ticket at the toll booth and paying for it and say "hey look, you averages 78mph in a 65, here's a ticket"
Actually it's not all that bad. 85% of the people here are in favor of cameras. They started sending out tickets today. The govt is running a lot of ads over the radio telling people that all revenues go in a fund to help pay for people getting injured on our roads.
Ontario once had speed cameras - cameras in vans randomly parked at the side of the highways. They were removed - one political party vowed to get rid of them if they won an election, and they won. (Not necessarily just on that promise of course.)
Phoenix has them, they're pure revenue generators for the city.
And they waste gas, because regardless of what people should or should not be doing, what people actually do in the really real world is memorize where the cameras are, slow down to 10mph under the limit (for no good reason) just before the cameras and then haul ass back up to 10mph over the limit immediately after the camera.
Causes tons more congestion and has stretched my GF's commute from 15 minutes to over 20 minutes in the morning. Those 5 extra minutes on the road times thousands of cars has to equal a hell of a lot more fuel being used, and certainly a hell of a lot more time wasted - not to mention a disruption to smooth flow of traffic.
All in all, a very bad idea and I wish nothing but the very worst to everyone responsible for those cameras.
I've always wondered why they don't just time people between getting a ticket at the toll booth and paying for it and say "hey look, you averages 78mph in a 65, here's a ticket"
(08-19-2009), 
