Big Brother is watching & listening....

[orthodoc]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Snip ~
I listened to a guy that lives in Philly, today. He was expounding loudly, how Philly should have red light cameras at every intersection and monitored video cameras on every block.
He actually welcomes the Civil Servant Overlords. Good grief.

Red light cameras and video cameras are the norm in most Canadian cities now. People are under constant surveillance. We were there for two years, and I found it crazy-making - talk about feeling paranoid. We were hit with a fine for 'running a red light', too, when a red light camera malfunctioned. We were sent the photos in the mail with a demand for $200. Included in the fine print was a notice that 'malfunctioning of the camera is not grounds for defense'!!! We could not beat the charge, even though the photos clearly showed problems with the camera's timer (they didn't even show the red light, natch).

Good grief is right, or maybe something stronger.

[xoxoxoBruce]

I don't know how it works in Canada, but here, every red light camera is installed and operated by private contractors, who take the lions share of the proceeds.
I'm agitated by the fact that the government and my employees have no hand in this process. I've seen several studies that show the same reduction in red light violations, the cameras claim to produce, can be achieved by adding 2 or 3 seconds to the yellow light. But, 1 - that produces no revenue, and 2 - it's a violation of the camera company's contract. They had to renegotiate any time a change was made in the light set up.