My wife ran a red light!
First off, I want to say how glad I am that she was the first of us to get a red light camera ticket. I’ve thought I had it coming a few times since they installed the obnoxious cameras, but so far I’ve remained unscathed.
I had a look at the video last night after we got the notice in the mail (addressed to me, because I own the car). She very much did run the light, and we will be sending in the $50. No question. I was just glad it was obviously not me behind the wheel.
But here’s the thing: in the video, you can see that absolutely no one was at risk. No one. I do know sometimes that’s not true, but I just hate this wide net approach.
Gas prices are getting crazy. Food prices are going up. People are losing their jobs yet paying more for basics. And on top of that, if you are a second late going through some meaningless light, you’re down fifty big ones.
We stopped to get gas a few days ago for the mini van. It cost seventy bucks. Yuck. Add fifty to that for being a second late going through a light.
It’s getting expensive to live in this town.
June 3rd, 2008 at 2:49 pm
I had a random conversation the other day with a lady who works at the unemployment benefits office here in Greenville, SC, and she said that she couldn’t remember a time when things have been this bad. She said that people were having to walk for miles to get to the unemployment office because they couldn’t afford to buy the gas needed to drive there, and that many of them were in foreclosure, with nowhere to go. Some will end up homeless. These were solidly middle-class people just a few short months ago.
June 3rd, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Oh, I love Greenville.
But yes, it’s a terrible time to lose a job, and lots of people are. It’s just horrible.
June 3rd, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Sorry, run a light, get a ticket. “Nobody was at risk” really isn’t an excuse.
And I say this as someone who paid a red light ticket - and yes, I ran it, but only only by a split second.
June 3rd, 2008 at 4:09 pm
I hear ya. It’s not unreasonable to pay a ticket when you run a light. But two things bother me here: one, it seems like the city is just running a business (contracting, really) to make more money rather than for our safety. And they’re doing it at a time when money is tight. And two: if they wanted to keep us safe, they could lengthen the yellow lights. In the contract with Redflex, the city signed away the rights to lengthen yellow lights, because that would reduce revenue.
June 3rd, 2008 at 4:11 pm
I also have no problem with red lights being run in certain conditions - snowy weather, late at night, riding a motorcycle (can’t trip the sensor), etc. But I suppose that’s another issue.
June 4th, 2008 at 8:26 am
I actually agree with the commenter who says that since I ran the light, I should pay the ticket.
June 4th, 2008 at 9:26 am
If a city wasn’t run like a business I think we’d all be taxed to death. Everyone has to pay-one way or another.
June 4th, 2008 at 9:49 am
Hee, Sorry about the ticket Katie. I’ve run a yellow a few times and figured I would recieve the ticket. No tickets yet.
And re: unemployment, two women in my office were laid off this week. One is the insurance holder for her family of five. This economy sucks.
June 4th, 2008 at 9:50 am
on another note, where did that cute little quilt pattern avatar come from next to my name?
June 4th, 2008 at 10:17 am
That’s a gravatar, or globally recognized avatar. You could go to gravatar.com and get your own (they’re associated with your email address). Or my blog will assign you one.
I like it.
June 4th, 2008 at 10:28 am
If people would band together and protest against the gluttenous oil companies (putting the focus where it belongs) people wouldn’t have it so bad. Everybody does alot of complaining but it seems that nobody does anything to solve the real problem. People should march on Washington and demand that the current administration do something NOW instead of naively waiting for some pseudo “savior” to get elected and save the day! This whole recession is a bunch of BS! It was created on speculation and thrown on the backs of the little guys.
June 4th, 2008 at 10:45 am
Sorry about the rant,but I’m just real tired of hearing that so many people are suffering and nobody seems to be doing anything about it. We shouldn’t be sitting back and allowing this to continue to happen. I don’t think it’s going to go away unless people get mad enough to protest!
June 4th, 2008 at 11:13 pm
Where I live 4, 5, or even 6 cars run a red light. After the light is OBVIOUSLY red this many cars will go through. This happens on a regular basis at all intersections. Not only down-right annoying as you now cannot go through your GREEN light, also very dangerous.
June 5th, 2008 at 9:27 am
CNMOM:
As long as oil is traded on the market as a commodity it is subject to the same market forces as everything else. Demand is high, supply is low; prices are up… We have foolishly created a world for ourselves that has made us horribly dependent on oil, but that was a choice that we made… We wanted sprawl and suburbs (ever been to a rezoning hearing where someone has proposed smaller lot size? You have never seen so many protestors!). We drive big gas-guzzling cars, SUVs, trucks, refused to invest in public transportation, and scrapped every proposal to ‘encourage’ car manufacturers to create cars that get better gas mileage. (The 1991 Hyundai I used to drive got better gas mileage than my 2007 vehicle). These are all choices that we made, and now we are bearing the cost of those choices.
June 5th, 2008 at 10:11 am
Sadly, I got ANOTHER ticket yesterday. This time, for speeding.
Sigh.
June 5th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
Yikes….that speeding one’s gonna be more expensive.
Lisa, that is the reason these cameras were installed, to try to punish people who run them to make them more aware that they need to stop. Everyone thinks it’s okay if they run a light or squeeze through a yellow light because it’s “just this one time”. Unfortunately, with everyone thinking that, it adds up to a whole lot of times. And while I see detractors’ points that someone might not be in danger or not stopping completely before making a right turn isn’t that harmful, I like the fact that it’s cut and dried — either you stop or you don’t.
And before anyone else says it, there has been no indication in Knoxville that these cameras increase rear-end accidents.
June 5th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
Suzanne,I agree, but I’m finding it hard to believe that supply is actually as low it’s purported to be. I think there’s alot more going on than we know.