Yesterday I followed an interesting twitter “conversation” about the possibility of implementing red light cameras that not only catch people driving through red lights but also catch drivers who are speeding while driving through red lights.
One person commented that the process “wasn’t very transparent” because there wasn’t a publicly available list of which intersections the red light cameras will be implemented at.
Huh? We need a list of intersections where we shouldn’t go through the light at a high rate of speed, particularly when the light is red?
This actually reminds me of another story I saw on Twitter yesterday. The police in West Van put up one of those large portable signs telling drivers that 100m ahead the police were checking for drivers using their mobile phones.
Almost unbelievably, the police still caught a couple dozen people using their mobile phones while driving!
But back to the red light camera story – for the record, there actually is a list of the 140 intersections in Metro Vancouver that have significantly higher rates of collisions. Those are the locations that it is most likely a red light camera will be installed.
But really, shouldn’t the standard practice be that when you are approaching an intersection and the light turns yellow, you slow down and stop? Do we really need a public list of which intersections we should follow the law at?