Houston Coalition Against Red Light Cameras

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Why We Oppose Red Light Cameras

 

On March 27, 2008 a workshop was led by me under the auspices of the Aldine American Federation of Teachers, Local 6345. This workshop was provided primarily for all the Aldine Independent School District (Aldine ISD) bus drivers  and was given because all of them are under threat of being fired if they are apprehended by the traffic light photo enforcement program while driving a school bus. Several drivers have lost their jobs because of this policy.

 

This workshop explained how all drivers can avoid a red light camera ticket without making a sudden stop. They were taught where the stop or go decision point lies at each of the red light cameras that are located within the Aldine ISD. They were provided with the amber period for each of these traffic lights and they were shown how to count down the seconds until the light turns red. These measures will assist all drivers to accurately make the correct stop or go decision when approaching an amber light.

 

Houston has failed to educate the public on these principles. This should have been done before the red light camera program was activated and in our opinion this failure constitutes entrapment. This is the reason this coalition was founded. Our goal is to give all drivers enough information to avoid the frequent inadvertent early violations that occur soon after a light turns red and we consider the revenue raised by this method of enforcement to be an unfair tax upon all drivers in Houston.

 

 

Latest Activities

 

 

We are continuing our opposition on four major fronts.  Click on “CORRESPONDENCES” to see

 

  1. our open letter to the Mayor of Houston,
  2. our exchanges of letters and emails with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and one of their client auto insurance companies (USAA).

 

We have a proposal before the Texas House of Representatives Transportation Committee to amend the Transportation Code Chapter 707.  These amendments will end the practice of shortening amber periods in order to increase revenue.

 

A table of  RLC locations in the greater Houston area which have or had short amber times can be found on the "Short Yellow" page.

 

 

H. F. Van Der Grinten

Founder