The problem is that red light cameras have been shown to increase accidents at intersections where they are installed. There are a few suggested reasons for this; I believe the most likely one is that the presence of the cameras adds one more item to the list of things that distract drivers, and makes them nervous.
]]>I highly, highly recommend you read The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe. It takes place in an "Urth" of the far-future where the vast majority of people essentially have the means, knowledge, and culture of Europe in the middle ages, while they live among the detritus of what had clearly been a much more advanced civilization (in the form of a crumbling, hemisphere-spanning city). The premise is interesting, but the writing itself is what people can't seem to find enough praise for. Effusions such as "Gene Wolfe is the best living writer in the world today." So, I won't go on to describe it further. Just… you should check it out.
I will say, though, that you should look at a photo of Gene Wolfe, and, with the knowledge that, in addition to his literary contributions, he is the man who invented the machine that cooks Pringles potato chips/crisps, you should develop probably-apocryphal suspicions about the provenance of that brand's logo and mascot.
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