According to KBTX:

A Lubbock legislator has filed a bill that would end red-light cameras in Texas, and a local driver is offering help.

Lubbock did away with its red-light cameras last year when the citizen group that oversaw the cameras, determined the cameras hadn’t made Lubbock’s streets any safer.

At that time, the cameras also hadn’t made Lubbock any money. A College Station man is supporting that Lubbock legislator; he says money is what the cameras are all about.

More here.

As someone who has been rear-ended at a camera-monitored red light, I’m highly suspicious of the value created by red light cameras. A new study by Rice University argues that although accidents have increased at camera-monitored intersections, that increase is almost entirely attributable to increases in the unmonitored directions. The mayor supports this argument by claiming that there’s been a spike in accidents at all intersections across the city, although there’s no data to support this claim.

One question I have is how are these accidents reported? Are they based on police reports? What percent of read-end collisions are reported? Were the police reports cross-checked with insurance claims for accuracy? I would expect that a lot of rear-end collisions aren’t reported simply because it takes less than five minutes to exchange insurance information and drive away.

Then I want to call attention to the graph in the report titled “Monitored vs. Unmonitored Approaches by Implementation Month”. The accident spike in unmonitored approaches seems to begin at the same time that the cameras went into production. Now correlation is not causation, but it’s highly suspicious. It’s incumbent upon the researchers to explain this divergence.

photo credit: j-e-m-s (dos chicas)

The Houston Chronicle has a cool interactive map that shows where all the red-light cameras are located in Houston and gives information on the number of tickets issued at each light. It even has video for some of the lights.

photo credit: j-e-m-s (dos chicas)

An internet classic…

1. A right lane construction closure is just a game to see how many people can cut in line by passing you on the right as you sit in the left lane waiting for the jerks to squeeze their way back in before hitting the orange construction barrels.
2. Turn signals are clues as to your next move. A real Texas driver never uses them.
3. Under no circumstances should you leave a safe distance between you and the car in front of you or the space will be filled in by somebody else putting you in an even more dangerous situation.
4. Crossing two or more lanes in a single lane change is considered “going with the flow”.
5. The faster you drive through a red light, the smaller the chance you have of getting hit.
6. Never get in the way of an older car that needs extensive body work.
7. Braking is to be done as hard and late as possible to insure that your ABS kick in giving a nice relaxing foot massage as the brake pedal pulsates. For those of you without ABS, it’s a chance to stretch your legs.
8. Construction signs tell you about road closures immediately after you pass the last exit before the traffic begins to back up.
9. The new electronic traffic warning system signs are not there to provide useful information. They are only there to make Texas look high-tech and to distract you from seeing the police car parked in the median.
10. Never pass on the left when you can pass on the right. It’s a good way to scare people entering the highway.
11. Speed limits are arbitrary figures, given only as suggestions and apparently not enforceable in the metro area during rush hour.
12. Just because you’re in the left lane and have no room to speed up or move over doesn’t mean that a Texas driver flashing his high beams behind you doesn’t think he can go faster in your spot.
13. Please remember that there is no such thing as a shortcut during rush hour traffic in any major Texas city.
14. Always slow down and rubberneck when you see an accident or even someone changing a tire.
15. Throwing litter on the roads adds variety to the landscape, keeps the existing litter from getting lonely and gives Adopt-a-Highway crews something to clean up.
16. Everybody thinks their vehicle is better than yours, especially pickup truck drivers with stickers of Calvin peeing on a Ford, Dodge or Chevy logo.
17. Learn to swerve abruptly. Texas is the home of high-speed slalom driving thanks to the DOT, which puts potholes in key locations to test drivers reflexes and keeps them on their toes.
18. It is traditional in Texas to honk your horn at cars that don’t move the instant the light changes.
19. Seeking eye contact with another driver revokes your right of way.
20. Never take a green light at face value. Always look right and left before proceeding.
21. Heavy snow, ice, fog, and rain are no reasons to change any of the previously listed rules. These weather conditions are Gods way of ensuring a natural selection process for body shops, junk yards and new vehicle sales.
22. Remember that the goal of every Texas driver is to get there first, by whatever means necessary.
23. Real Texas women drivers can put on pantyhose and apply eye makeup and talk on the cell phone at seventy-five miles per hour in bumper-to-bumper traffic. Real Texas men drivers can remove pantyhose and a bra at seventy five miles per hour in bumper-to-bumper traffic.