Backlash reported in some cities against red-light cameras

USA Today has a couple of stories today (Monday, Jan. 18, 2010) about red-light cameras that may be of interest to people who live -- or at least drive -- in Cedar Rapids, Ia.

Cedar Rapids has started to install these devices in order to catch people who run red lights or speed through intersections. The Gazette's Rick Smith reported on this earlier this month and again this week.

USA Today's page 1 story today says folks in many cities where these are being used don't like the intrusion, thinking of them as "unreasoning revenue generators for hard-up local governments." An example of the backlash in one city, Dalton, Ga., is found in a page 2 story.

I spent a night in Dalton a few years ago. I never ran into a red-light camera problem there but I did in Sioux Falls, S.D., last summer. It happened at about 6:30 a.m. while I was trying to find a hospital where our daughter was having a baby. My wife and I were among the few people heading down the main drag at the time.

I pulled up to a stop light in the left lane, which had a red light prohibiting left turns, but realized that I still needed to go straight ahead, which had a green light. Seeing no one in the right lane, I swerved into it and went through the green light.

My wife and I saw a flash, then another as we went through the intersection. Caught with a red-light camera, I wondered how much of hassle I'd endure arguing that I actually went through a green light.

I never got a ticket. Apparently the picture showed me in the correct lane, and not running a red light. But that kind of situation -- no one around, your chief accuser being a machine, being from out of town and more willing to pay a fine than deal with a long-distance hassle -- is the kind that concerns people about these devices.