Photo Radar

Photo Radar is being used in cities everywhere to not only monitor and detect traffic violations but as a means of generating revenue.  Photo Radar is also know as red light radar, red light cameras, and traffic cameras.

How Red Light Cameras Work

In a typical system, cameras are positioned at the corners of an intersection, on poles a few yards high. The cameras point inward, so they can photograph cars driving through the intersection. Generally, a red-light system has cameras at all four corners of an intersection, to photograph cars going in different directions and get pictures from different angles. Systems use either film cameras or digital cameras. 

The computer is the brains behind the operation. It is wired to the cameras, the triggers and the traffic-light circuit itself. The computer constantly monitors the traffic signal and the triggers. If a car sets off a trigger when the light is red, the computer takes two pictures to document the violation. The first picture shows the car just on the edge of the intersection and the second picture typically shows the offender in the intersection and records the date, time of day, the elapsed time since the light turned red and the vehicle's speed. Tickets are mailed after the photographic evidence is reviewed.

Critics charge the process can be manipulated to generate more money for a city.  One way, they say, is through so-called "short-lighting" — reducing the yellow times at intersections. In San Diego, red-light camera citations dropped 90 percent at one intersection when the caution time was increased from three seconds to 4.7 seconds; in Ohio, the yellow-light intervals are supposed to range from approximately three to six seconds, according to the state's traffic-control device manual.

Are Red Light Cameras Actually Safe?

A brand new, exhaustive study of all seven Virginia red light camera programs shows an overall increase in injury accidents has occurred where the devices are installed. The study was performed by The Virginia Transportation Research Council at the request of the state transportation secretary. The cameras are correlated with an increase in total crashes of 8% to 17%. 
The cameras are correlated with an increase in rear-end crashes related to the presence of a red light; the increase ranges between 50% and 71%.

BEL (Beltronics) Radar Detectors

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K40 Radar Detectors

PNI Radar Detectors

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Rocky Mountain Radar

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