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Rep. Joe McCord of Maryville confronts the City of Knoxville and the Redflex cameras

One of the worst decisions by Knoxville Mayor Haslam and his administration was the approval and installation of Redflex Red Light cameras. But much worse than that decision was the decision not to change the Yellow Light timing to ensure traffic safety.

Whether this was oversight, incompetence, or greed will be difficult to ascertain. The engineering department of the City of Knoxville has stated it is too expensive to change the Yellow Light timing. Some think it is about the money. The Redflex system has already earned over two million dollars with a portion of that money going to the City of Knoxville.

One man has decided to go over the head of the Haslam administration and take this to the Tennessee General Assembly. That man is Rep. Joe McCord, the Republican from Maryville. Rep. McCord has introduced a bill that will require Yellow Light durations to be set at 5 seconds at all intersections where cameras are set up to photograph motorists.

In a story in today’s News Sentinel McCord was reported as saying, “he has heard reports that the yellow lights on Knoxville’s monitored intersections are set at 3 seconds to boost ticket revenue.”

Thank you Joe McCord for standing up for the people that have to drive on Knoxville’s streets. The first goal should be safety not revenue.

Rep. McCord’s bill mandates, “that the yellow, or caution, light be set at 5 seconds at all intersections where cameras are set up to photograph motorists. Another portion of the bill would forbid local governments from contracting with private companies to operate red light camera systems.”

Effectively this would end the contract between Redflex and the City of Knoxville.

I wonder if the Yellow Light duration will be changed now? Well Mayor, what do you think?

4 Responses to “Rep. Joe McCord of Maryville confronts the City of Knoxville and the Redflex cameras”

  1. Kristopher Says:

    Most states have in place a traffic engineer, who handles sign and highway design problems.

    If TN has one, I would suggest sending in a written formal complaint. If TN law is similar to other states, failing to implement the traffic engineers recommendations can be used as a defense against a traffic ticket.

  2. straightarrow Says:

    Martin/Marietta had the contract for similar services in San Diego, Ca. It was proven and the city and M/M finally admitted that the company set the timing specifically to thwart efforts to obey the traffic signal. The company got a piece of every fine from photo tickets and the city got the rest.

    I seriously doubt that this is any different. The court made them cease, but did not make them reimburse the fines, nor clean up the driving records of those so entrapped.

    Ain’t power wonderful. Steal until you get caught, then quit. No restitution, no punishment, just quit for awhile or until you think of another scam. Haslam sounds like an adherent to this philosophy.

  3. dshoes Says:

    The engineering department of the City of Knoxville has stated it is too expensive to change the Yellow Light timing.

    That says it all.

    It’s too expensive to ensure safety? The revenues generated can’t cover the costs? But the City signed the contract to ensure safety? Haslamed again.

    Hats off to Rep. Joe McCord for recognizing the first order of government is to provide safety and services for its citizens, and the engineering department is not there to provide yet another revenue stream for questionable projects. It says a lot when the citizens here in Knox have to rely on the common sense and values of outsiders because we don’t have any where we live.

  4. Mike Says:

    City of Lubbock TX is trying the same thing — When people asked about the timing of yellow they said it met guildlines — A local TV station looked into it and found it was “certified” “remotely” from the state capital — and when the TV station checked by hand they found that 12 of 15 were WRONG. What a bunch of crooks.

Remember, I do this to entertain me, not you.

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