Comment

Comment by Robert Cooper on December 18, 2012 at 2:57pm

Just speculating: Since a lot of the services that we use -- City Hall, Wegmans, movie theaters, museums, libraries, and so on -- not to mention places of work, are on the East Side, West-Siders will be caught on red-light cameras that are downtown and that are on the East Side.

The camera at West Main/Boy’s Club Place/Ford Street/Broad Street is located at a virtual traffic bottleneck in this regard. It’s at the gateway, as it were.

If all of the cameras were on the West Side, we would still be the leaders among the caught, because people from East Avenue and Pittsford don’t tend to come to the West Side to work and to watch movies and to shop for books and running shoes and organic vegetables. (I wish that they did.)

A related issue, last week a guy stopped his pickup in the middle of a four-way intersection to have an extended conversation on his phone.

No red light, no camera, no problem.

Comment by DeWain Feller on December 17, 2012 at 12:32pm

I say that we do need these cameras... and I got nailed by the one a Broad and Main.  While it is very true that city employees should not be getting away with violations, the old adage is still true... "two wrongs don't make a right."  We have rampant problems with drivers running red lights, running stop signs, failing to yield, stopping abruptly over crosswalks and so on.  The most likely reason why there are so many tickets given to 19th Ward residents is that we have had so little enforcement for so long that there are too many people who drive recklessly.  The cameras simply are not singling out 19th Warders.  This isn't profiling.  It's not persecution.  If you don't want to get a ticket, obey the laws. 

When I got the ticket at Broad and Main, I thought for sure that it must have been a mistake.  However, when I watched the video, it was clear that I pulled to far over the crosswalk and then made a rolling stop.  Our kids watched the video, and I just told that daddy made a mistake while he was rushing to work, but I admitted my mistake and that I would pay the fine right away.

Comment by Randy Haywood & Scott Hebert on December 15, 2012 at 10:45am

The red light camera program would be easier to accept if the drivers of official city vehicles were also ticketed, but currently they are not.  This hypocrisy is very troubling...

Comment by Leslie Phillips on December 11, 2012 at 10:24am

I'd like to know which cameras are generating the most tickets. We got nailed by the one at Broad and Ford St. In our case it was justified (my husband executed a rolling stop before making a right turn on red) but I have seen this camera go off many times when a driver did indeed make a full stop. Perhaps it goes off if they stop too close to the corner. Needless to say, now I am very careful to come to a complete stop before the crosswalk at that corner, and I will never turn right on red. Probably many 19th Ward residents go through this intersection when travelling eastward. I have also seen the cameras at other intersections go off when all applicable traffic was stopped. I don't trust that they operate properly.

Comment by Marian Boutet on December 10, 2012 at 6:48pm

Having dodged the crazies on the streets of the 19th Ward for many years now, I wasn't at all surprised that we have more offenders than any other neighborhood in the City.  I'm for more red light cameras.  It's easy not to get ticketed - just don't run any lights!  At the very least, if we can get enough of them operating maybe our property taxes will go down courtesy of reckless drivers.

Comment by Mark Sweetland on December 10, 2012 at 4:02pm

I also read the article.  Seems to me red lights are there for a reason.  People are supposed to get a ticket if they go through one, no?  And police review all before a ticket is issued, even rejecting many caught by camera.  I don't think the law says "go through if nobody sees you."