COMMENTARY
Rod Watson: Red-light cameras are a good start
The folks objecting to Buffalo’s redlight cameras have got to be kidding if their biggest beef is that drivers who suddenly decide to obey the law will be rear-ended by those who don’t.
The answer to that is simple. It’s not less enforcement of traffic laws, but more: Crack down on tailgaters.
With red-light cameras coming soon to a corner near you, that’s all the city needs to do.
Rear-end crashes account for about 28 percent of all accidents, and about 40 percent of crashes between moving vehicles, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates.
That’s fewer than the number of side-impact crashes, and injuries in rear-end crashes are less severe than those resulting from right-angle crashes when someone runs a red light.
“Those are some of the most violent crashes you can have,” said Wally Smith, a spokesman for AAA of Western and Central New York, which backs the cameras to cut down on T-bone accidents.
That data alone justifies Mayor Byron W. Brown’s plan —somewhat neutered by the wizards in Albany—to install 50 of the cameras and charge $50 to each red-light runner.
But this doesn’t have to be an either/ or choice between right-angle and rear-end crashes. Let the cameras catch the red-light runners and let cops—or even newer technology—crack down on tailgaters.
Since the start of the year, Buffalo police have issued 498 tickets for red-light infractions. That compares with just 22 for tailgating.
Those numbers mean there’s a gold mine out there among the geniuses who think a 3,000-pound hunk of steel can stop instantaneously just because it has anti-lock brakes.
According to AAA data, when you count the driver’s reaction time plus how long it takes the brakes to do their thing, a car going 40 mph needs 189 feet to stop safely. That’s 63 yards, or more than half a football field.
How many drivers leave anywhere near that much space?
And if you try to leave the recommended two or three seconds worth of distance between you and the vehicle ahead, three cars will cut in front of you while you’re counting.
It’s crazy, and if cops need help returning sanity to city streets, red-light cameras aren’t the only technological aids. Some new radar guns target tailgaters by measuring the speed of vehicles at timed intervals to calculate how close the second car is to the first. The devices would probably pay for themselves quicker than you can say, “Oh, no, I can’t stop in time!”
And to critics who call all of this a municipal money grab, so what?
Think of it as a stupidity tax—and a voluntary one, at that.
Driving is one reason I don’t hunt. After watching what morons do with a lethal steering wheel in their hands, there’s no way I’m going to give them guns and then go out in the woods and walk around in the middle of them.
If we can’t stop them, we might as well fine them. The more they willingly contribute, the less the city—directly, and indirectly through state aid—needs to take from me and every other involuntary contributor.
Instead of taxing innocuous activities such as fishing or cutting hair, “tax” the people who think traffic laws are meant for everyone else. As the proverb implies, fools and their money should be parted.
Brown is on to something, and redlight cameras should be just the start.
Don’t stop there—because too many drivers can’t, even when they need to.
Log into MyBuffalo to post a comment
MyBuffalo is the new social network from Buffalo.com. Your MyBuffalo account lets you comment on and rate stories at buffalonews.com. You can also head over to mybuffalo.com to share your blog posts, stories, photos, and videos with the community. Join now or learn more.
Reader comments
Learn more about our moderation system.