Traffic Light Cameras = Bad News for everyone except Politicians and Camera Vendors....

These "red light" cameras are purchased and installed with the assumed purpose of increasing traffic safety. However, they pull in large amounts of money, with a cut off the top to the camera vendor, so they quickly get switched from "safety measures" to " moneymakers". How? Easy.
Simply shorten the yellow time, and/ or the green time, and more people will be ticketed, therefore making more money. Sure, there's more collisions, but hey, more money.

Excerpt from a "short yellow" report...
"A local news investigation has found that the city of Dallas, Texas depends upon short yellow timing to maximize red light camera profit. Of the ten cameras that issue the greatest number of tickets in the city, seven are located at intersections where the yellow duration is shorter than the bare minimum recommended by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), KDFW-TV found. The city's second highest revenue producing camera, for example, is located at the intersection of Greenville Avenue and Mockingbird Lane. It issued 9407 tickets worth $705,525 between January 1 and August 31, 2007. At the intersections on Greenville Avenue leadding up to the camera intersection, however, yellows are at least 3.5 or 4.0 seconds in duration, but the ticket producing intersection's yellow stands at just 3.15 seconds. The yellow is .35 seconds shorter than TxDOT's recommended bare minimum. "For 30 miles per hour, if your yellow time was less than three and a half, you would not be giving that driver enough time to react and brake and stop prior to getting to the intersection," TxDOT Dallas District office transportation engineer supervisor Chris Blain told KDFW. A small change in signal timing can have a great effect on the number of tickets issued. About four out of every five red light camera citations are issued before even a second has elapsed after the light changed to red..."
Full story.

A bit from a study showing longer yellows decrease red light running/collisions significantly...

"...they found when the yellow signal was 1 second shorter than what the standard ITE timing formula specifies as a minimum, red light violations jumped 110%. Adding an additional second to the ITE minimum yellow yielded 53% reduction in violations, producing the greatest benefit of all the factors studied (2-6). When safety is the main concern, preventing crashes is more important than reducing violations. Yellow signal timing again proved most effective in reducing crashes. An extra second yielded a 40 percent collision reduction."
The study.

The latest underhanded money grab? Shortening green light times to trap motorists...
"Lufkin, Texas motorist Nathaniel Shaw told KTRE-TV's investigative reporters about what he saw as a trap laid at the intersection of Chestnut and Timberland.

"I can guarantee you it does not stay on green when you cross over Timberland it does not stay on green more than three seconds," Shaw said. "More than five seconds at the most. Maybe three cars get through then all of a sudden you have to stop."

Although Texas Department of Transportation standards suggest the signal should stay green for a minimum of eight to ten seconds, KTRE timed the light at between three and five seconds of green. Shaw and others find this to be an inadequate time to clear the intersection, and each time someone fails to slam on the brakes in time, Lufkin will pocket $22.50, the state of Texas takes $22.50 and German red light camera vendor Traffipax earns $30. Officials say the timing results from programming designed to optimize traffic flow during peak traffic periods."
Article.

Also, to discourage anyone actually contesting a ticket, there are usually elaborate layers of red tape wrapped around the appeal process ( because contested tickets eat into the bottom line) so even being able to fight one's accused in court is made virtually impossible, or is made such a waste of time and resources that most will just choose to pay the ticket. Nice.

Just say "No". Don't support traffic cameras. Ever. Even Britian, who holds the world's title for most road cameras, recently LOST the "safest traffic" title, as less and less actual police are now on the road.