No Camber in That Amber

The rule of thumb for yellow light intervals is one second for each ten MPH of the speed limit leading up to the intersection.  AAA found that the city of New York has been shaving that interval by as much as half a second and therefore not giving drivers "...ample time to get through the intersection."

Seems the city that never sleeps also never stops trying to suck money out of the huddled masses yearning to breathe free.  The city brings in a lot of tribute from those pole cameras.  There are 170 cameras snapping happily away at 150 intersections.  They bring in nearly $50 million each year and...and...Mayor Bloomberg wants to up the covered intersections to two hundred and twenty-five. 

Robert Sinclair, spokesman for AAA, is in favor of red-light cameras, but considers fudging on the light timing by the city as "...just reaching into people's pockets."   He adds "People lose respect for these programs if they view them as revenue enhancers."

AAA engineers sampled random intersections and confronted NY city DOT spokesMs. Nicole Garcia.  She defended the snaparazzi.  She said they hew to the federal standards of three seconds and that "...motorists traveling the speed limit [should have plenty of time] to come to a stop."

AAA thinks it still smells fishy and plans to fight the metastasizing of the camera program.

City Council Transportation Committee Chairman James Vacca is troubled by the "gotcha game."  He is also a camera advocate but doesn't think the "enforcement can be fair unless the lights are timed properly."

New Jersey has a state standard and shuts down city programs that get too abusive and greedy.  New York, as yet, answers to no one but itself. 

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