Cheating With Traffic Lights

Last week, we reported on the dysfunctional aspects of traffic light police cameras. In that post, we mentioned a Tennessee judge who actually timed a light in Chattanooga and found it had been set incorrectly.

It turns out there are five other sleazy local municipalities that have shortened their yellow lights in order to catch more violators running reds, thereby collecting more revenue. Now you can add Dallas and Lubbock, Texas, Springfield, Mo., Union City, Calif., and Nashville, Tenn., to the list of cities who owe citizens reparations.

With this practice so geographically widespread, we recommend that the next time you get a speeding ticket, take a stopwatch and actually time the light. A yellow should last about 4.5 seconds.

Six Cities Busted for Shortening Yellow Light (Autoblog)