Cameras and Intersection Safety: Red and Yellow Is Not Black and White

Illinois is considering ways to improve safety at intersections that have red-light cameras.

2012-06-22

June 22, 2012 (Press-News.org) What is the overall effect on safety when cameras are installed at intersections to detect traffic violations?

Red-light cameras, as they are commonly known, have been controversial in the Chicago area and in several other cities across the country. Their advocates present them on public safety grounds, as a way to prevent people from running red lights by using technology to automatically issue a ticket to violators.

There are several concerns, however, that accompany use of this tactic. Civil liberties proponents argue that the specter of Big Brother lurks in letting machines run roughshod over rights by immediately issuing traffic tickets. Others say that local governments install the cameras not to improve safety, but to cynically grab increased revenue from traffic fines.

And then there is the straightforward safety concern that if people suddenly slam on their brakes to avoid red-light tickets, it could cause car collisions instead of preventing them.

Illinois Yellow Light Proposal

In May, the Illinois House of Representatives considered a proposal to add an extra second to yellow lights at intersections where red-light cameras are present. The proposal made it through the Illinois Senate, but it did not pass the House.

Supporters of the proposal pointed to a study done at Texas A & M University. The study indicated that accidents could be reduced by up to 40 percent by using longer yellow lights. The number of tickets for red-light camera violations would also be reduced, because drivers would have more time to stop or get through intersections safely.

Opponents argued that longer yellow lights would hurt, not help, efforts to improve safety. One of those opponents was Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. "Lengthening yellow lights has adverse safety implications," the mayor's office said in a statement.

The mayor may have a point. Research on the effectiveness of red-light cameras in the Chicago area is ongoing. But one recent study by a University of Illinois expert of 39 Chicago intersections found an increase in accidents, not a decrease, after the cameras were installed.

Some of those accidents could be rear-end collisions when drivers stop too suddenly while trying to avoid an automatically issued ticket.

Improving safety at red-light intersections, it would seem, is not always black and white.

Article provided by Salvi & Maher
Visit us at www.salvi-law.com

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Risks and rewards of quantifying nature's 'ecosystem services'

2012-06-22

How much is a stream worth? Can we put a dollar value on a wetland? Some conservation proponents have moved to establish the economic value of "ecosystem services," the benefits that nature provides to people. The approach translates the beauty and utility of a wetland into pounds of phosphorus removed from agricultural runoff, Joules of heat pulled out of urban wastewater, and inches of floodwater absorbed upstream of riverside communities. The idea of trading ecosystem services has surged in popularity since the 2005 United Nations Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. But ...

Silent Killer: Hospital Infections Affect 1 in 20 Patients

2012-06-22

When most people are admitted to the hospital, their primary concern is getting better and going home. To that end, a lot of people worry that their surgeries will not be successful, or that their doctors will make a diagnostic mistake or medication error. Most aren't aware that a silent killer is lurking in the background. Unfortunately, hospital-based infections are a huge problem in American medical facilities. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 1 in 20 hospitalized patients will develop an infection during their stay. ...

Bringing down the cost of fuel cells

2012-06-22

Engineers at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) have identified a catalyst that provides the same level of efficiency in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) as the currently used platinum catalyst, but at 5% of the cost. Since more than 60% of the investment in making microbial fuel cells is the cost of platinum, the discovery may lead to much more affordable energy conversion and storage devices. The material – nitrogen-enriched iron-carbon nanorods – also has the potential to replace the platinum catalyst used in hydrogen-producing microbial electrolysis cells (MECs), ...

Hey, Repo Man: Court Says Give the Car Back

2012-06-22

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has ruled that creditors must give repossessed property back - even though it was repossessed legally - after debtors file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy. The Facts In the case, the General Motors Acceptance Corporation (GMAC) repossessed Theodore Thompson's 2003 Chevy Impala after he fell behind on payments. On February 5, 2008, soon after repo men took the car, Thompson filed Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Thompson asked GMAC to return the car but GMAC refused. Bankruptcy Court Decides Against Thompson The bankruptcy court, ...

Bandgap engineering for high-efficiency solar cell design

2012-06-22

ZnSnP2, an absorber material for solar cells, transitions from an ordered to a disordered structure at high temperatures. Researchers from University College London and the University of Bath have proposed taking advantage of this structural change to design high-efficiency solar absorbers. The team used theoretical calculations to investigate the electronic structure of both phases, and predicted a significant difference in the bandgap between the ordered and fully disordered materials. Experimental measurements of the bandgap of ZnSnP2 are consistent with predictions ...

Sea waves as renewable resource in new energy converter design

2012-06-22

Sea waves are a renewable and inexhaustible resource found in abundance across the planet. But efficiently converting sea wave motion into electrical energy has been challenging, in part due to the difficulty of compensating for the relatively low speeds and irregular movements of ocean waves. Researchers from the University of Beira Interior in Portugal have designed and simulated a new energy conversion device that addresses both these challenges (i.e., low speed and irregular movements). Their proposed device consists of a floating body attached to a new type of conversion ...

Comfort Inn & Conference Center in North Atlanta Named Official Hotel of Paul Murphy World Title Belt Tournament

2012-06-22

The newly renovated Comfort Inn & Conference Center Northeast, a leading north Atlanta hotel, named the official sponsor of the Paul Murphy World Title Belt Tournament of Champions. The event will take place August 31 - September 2, 2012 at the Forest Fleming Arena in Doraville, GA. Sanctioned under the Georgia Amateur Boxing Association, the tournament is open to boxers of all ages and the winner of each weight class division(s) will win a Title belt. Registration is required; contact Sugar Bert Boxing Academy for details. Conveniently located less than 1 mile ...

Researchers test carbon nanotube-based ultra-low voltage integrated circuits

2012-06-22

A team of researchers from Peking University in Beijing, China, and Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, has demonstrated that carbon nanotube-based integrated circuits can work under a supply voltage much lower than that used in conventional silicon integrated circuits. Low supply voltage circuits produce less heat, which is a key limiting factor for increased circuit density. Carbon-based electronics have attracted attention mostly because of their speed. The new research shows that carbon nanotube integrated circuits could also offer the promise of extending Moore's ...

GMCSF treatment associated with improved cognition in cancer patients

2012-06-22

Tampa, FL (June 22, 2012) – Growth factors shown to cure Alzheimer's disease in a mouse model and administered to cancer patients as part of their treatment regimen were linked to significant improvements in the patients' cognitive function following stem cell transplantation, a preliminary clinical study reports. The findings by researchers at the USF Health Byrd Alzheimer's Institute and Moffitt Cancer Center are reported online in Brain Disorders & Therapy. The retrospective study showed that cancer patients treated with granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating ...

For minority college students, STEM degrees pay big

2012-06-22

Minority college students who major in the STEM fields – science, technology, engineering and math – earn at least 25 percent more than their peers who study humanities or education, according to the results of a new study. And those who took jobs related to their STEM degrees earned at least 50 percent more than their classmates who majored in humanities or education fields. Published in the June issue of Research in Higher Education, the study followed more than 1,000 Asian and Pacific Islander, Latino and black students over nine years. The students were scholarship ...

Inhibition of cyclooxygenase-2 upregulates the nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 signaling pathway to mitigate hepatocyte ferroptosis in chronic liver injury

Cameras and Intersection Safety: Red and Yellow Is Not Black and White

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: