SignalTraffic Forums

by **EdT.** on Thu Feb 05, 2009 10:56 am

ARSTechnica article on Italian Traffic Signal scandal

There have been a few (documented at least - I suspect it's much more common than anyone will admit) instances of this practice in the United States but none so widespread (yet). I fear that once local governments fully realize the potential revenue stream from 'fixing' these types of systems (photo radar cameras too), it'll truly be too expensive to drive anywhere.

Who's watching the watchers?

by **vaughnsimon** on Thu Feb 05, 2009 11:41 am

George Orwell did our civilization a tremendous favor back in 1949 when he looked into the future, saw something that scared him, and wrote the book "1984".

It is a terrible shame that we as a society suddenly seem to be forgetting Orwell's warning and allowing government to install video technology virtually unchallenged. Red light cameras, public face recognition systems, automated license tag recognition systems in police cars, central video survieillance systems; all this stuff is becoming cheap and common while we sleep.

The next step will be to integrate all of this hardware & software together and then government will have successfully automated the process of tracking every citizen every day. This is not science fiction, it is something doable today.

Speaking of which, has anyone noted the wonderful new Google "tracking service"? Perhaps Google will someday be the New World Order?

Vaughn (The good news is that you are really not paranoid if "they" really are out to get you)

by **SirMarbelot** on Thu Feb 05, 2009 1:08 pm

I totally agree. Vaughn.

by **jab8356** on Thu Feb 05, 2009 1:37 pm

God is still in control.

by **vaughnsimon** on Thu Feb 05, 2009 4:15 pm

The article says:

He's accused of conspiring with 63 municipal police, 39 local government officials, and the managers of seven different companies in order to rig the system so that it would turn from yellow to red quicker, therefore catching more motorists.

Actually if you are in control of a traffic interconnect system, you don't need to do anything as obvious as playing with clearance intervals! You only need to tweak the offsets a bit so that more high-speed cars are presented with amber lights and thus drivers must make more go/no-go decisions. Inevitibly, some will make bad decisions, or simply decide to take a chance and end up getting nailed. Unless you were stupid enough to leave a paper trail that disclosed your objectives, there is no way anyone could prove a thing. (FYI: In a perfectly coordinated artery, you see few brake lights. It is a beautiful thing and it gives you a real sense of accomplishment.)

I will say this: For some 10 years I was my city's interconnect guru. Even though we worked closely with the police, never once did anyone ever seriously suggest that we tweak the settings so that the police could write more tickets. Our traffic enforcement guys always did well enough all on their own.

Vaughn

by **traffic-light-man** on Thu Feb 05, 2009 4:57 pm

In the UK,red signal enforcement cameras are very common place, and seemingliy a lot smaller than the US counterparts, even if they are made by GATSO.

In the UK, we have a fixed amber at 3 seconds, so that cant be alterd at all, it's in the controller's EPROM, and there is then the inter-stage interval, if there is one that is, and there is a small time threshold where the cammera is inactive before it becomes active. and even then, the vehicle has to actually get past the loops in the carriageway, which are set at the stop line and past the stop line at the mouth of the junction it's slef.

I dont think they are rigged, or even could be. In ther UK, we paint our traffic enforcement cameras bright yellow, however, now CCTV traffic cameras can be used for parking and yellow box violations at junctions.

by **2070** on Mon Feb 09, 2009 5:41 am

In Willington, North Carolina I have noticed that ALL the traffic lights with "Photo Enforced" signs have shorter yellows than ones without the signs.

Mongomery County, Marland has them and their yellow times seem to ALL be the SAME.

I have not gotten a ticket when visiting my inlaws in North Carolina. I just drive slower when I see a sign for them and ride with my foot on the brake. I would rather stop short and get rear ended than get a red light ticket.

New York City has their own laws when it come to the red light camera. Because under New York State Law, Red Light cameras can not be used.

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