Red light!

I frequently rant and rave about the government and corruption therein, but even this pushes me to the limit.

I am an advocate for the elimination of speed limits on the highways. I am an advocate for the complete rewriting of most traffic laws with real safety in mind. Why do I say real safety? Because many traffic laws have nothing to do with safety. They're either formulated with honest concern for the safety of the citizenry and just wrong, the result of political grandstanding, or for revenue generation.

Six US cities, that I know of at this time, have been caught actually shortening yellow light times in an effort to generate more ticket revenue from the red light cameras that automatically generate citations. I hope you realize what that means. It means that your friendly neighborhood government is willing to kill people for money.

Never trust the government. You don't have to go all X-Files on us, but distrust is healthy. You can even safely assume that most people in government are honestly trying to do good. Unfortunately, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Those intended to look out for your best interests are frequently idiots or tragically uninformed or just straight up corrupt.

Cities Caught Illegally Tampering With Traffic Lights To Increase Revenue Of Red Light Cameras