Nate Nagel writes:

On 10/16/2013 02:45 PM, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On Wednesday, October 16, 2013 11:58:21 AM UTC-4, Radey Shouman
wrote:

[Frank Krygowski]

I wonder how it's done in other countries? Perhaps part of our
problem is that this is the place where some in power feel that
Free Enterprise should solve every problem, and that government
should be small enough that one can "drown it in a bathtub."

Dude, try to stay on topic.

It's a discussion, and I'm exploring the topic by wondering about the
motivation of the complainers. I'd not be surprised to find a lot of
overlap between camera complainers and Tea Party members.

The original idea behind the Tea Party (small government, living
within our means, etc.) was great. Too bad it was co-opted by the
Republican establishment almost as soon as people heard about it.

But you see, I'm not actually anti-camera in principle, only in
practice. If you can assure me that yellow timings will be properly
set, and that the cameras are reliable enough that only a tiny
fraction of the tickets will be issued in error, and that there will
be some kind of review and appeal process that will allow people
ticketed in error to have their tickets reversed without undue time
and financial effort, then I'm OK with them. But I believe that in a
typical camera installation, NONE of those things are true, which is
why I am opposed to them. I also believe that a camera 100% by the
rules won't likely be profitable, which is why I believe that camera
operators have a huge incentive to cherrypick intersections with short
yellows or in other ways bend the rules.

I really don't like the cameras much. Any state of the art speed camera
can surely log *every* vehicle through its intersection, scanned in real
time. I would prefer that neither governments nor private firms be free
to archive that kind of data without limit or oversight. Cyclists,
pedestrians, and passengers are harder, but automatic face recognition
is improving, and why should anyone worry about a few false
identifications?

Yes, I know, if I could just rid myself of dirty secrets to hide I
wouldn't mind big brother wanting to count my balls every time I stand
up.