@vfrmedia@social.tchncs.de @Showroom7561@lemmy.ca @TDCN@feddit.dk @mike805@noc.social @stahlbrandt@infosec.exchange also there’s the whole thing with cameras in the US, which could be a great tool to improve safety (as a band-aid until infrastructure can be fixed)
problem is that most of them are privately-run, the private company collects the fine and kicks back a portion to the municipality, and the private company expects a return on their investment, and the municipality is asked to ensure that there’s enough offenses to justify the camera. this means that dangerous road designs that encourage excessive speed become desirable, and things like yellow light timing are reduced to legal minimums (or in some cases, below legal minimums) to encourage red light running. (IIRC what ends up happening in US municipalities that deploy privatized cameras, is that T-bone crashes and fatalities do actually go down, but rear-end crashes go up significantly because of people going for sudden full brake applications on yellow lights to try to avoid a fine, due to how short the yellows are.)
(the solution here isn’t to get rid of cameras necessarily, it’s to prohibit private ownership and fine collection from the cameras, and to direct revenue properly to avoid perverse incentives.)
@bhtooefr@TDCN@stahlbrandt@Showroom7561@vfrmedia Agreed on that, private law enforcement is not good because they have the incentive to create violators. Private prisons are also bad. So are so-called pirate tow trucks that are allowed to go out and hunt for people with expired registrations or delinquent loans and tow their cars.
@vfrmedia@social.tchncs.de @Showroom7561@lemmy.ca @TDCN@feddit.dk @mike805@noc.social @stahlbrandt@infosec.exchange also there’s the whole thing with cameras in the US, which could be a great tool to improve safety (as a band-aid until infrastructure can be fixed)
problem is that most of them are privately-run, the private company collects the fine and kicks back a portion to the municipality, and the private company expects a return on their investment, and the municipality is asked to ensure that there’s enough offenses to justify the camera. this means that dangerous road designs that encourage excessive speed become desirable, and things like yellow light timing are reduced to legal minimums (or in some cases, below legal minimums) to encourage red light running. (IIRC what ends up happening in US municipalities that deploy privatized cameras, is that T-bone crashes and fatalities do actually go down, but rear-end crashes go up significantly because of people going for sudden full brake applications on yellow lights to try to avoid a fine, due to how short the yellows are.)
(the solution here isn’t to get rid of cameras necessarily, it’s to prohibit private ownership and fine collection from the cameras, and to direct revenue properly to avoid perverse incentives.)
@bhtooefr @TDCN @stahlbrandt @Showroom7561 @vfrmedia Agreed on that, private law enforcement is not good because they have the incentive to create violators. Private prisons are also bad. So are so-called pirate tow trucks that are allowed to go out and hunt for people with expired registrations or delinquent loans and tow their cars.