[s-cars] Red light traffic in Illinois

[Eric Rechlin]

> My wife will detour a mile to miss these intersections since
> she apparently can't be retrained to make a complete stop; that
> entails a 3 second motionless period to defeat these on the right turn
> lane.

Wait...are you saying that even though the law in Illinois is that you have 
to make a complete stop first in order to make a right turn on red, the 
cameras are set up to give you a fine unless that "complete stop" lasts at 
least 3 seconds?  So even if you don't break the law you can still be fined?

> They have them in the other lanes as well, and they give no
> grace period if you are in the intersection when the light turns red.

In Illinois, is it illegal to enter an intersection on yellow if it turns 
red while you are in the intersection?  Or is that just something that will 
get you a fine from a red light camera but isn't actually illegal?  In other 
states that I am aware of, that's not illegal.

This sounds really fishy to me.   How can they get away with this?

In Texas, the legislature has banned any new red light cameras (I can't 
remember the reasoning; it wouldn't surprise me if it's because they caused 
an increase in the number of collisions), and the existing ones are not only 
clearly signed, but they take a picture of your car twice, once before the 
intersection and once after, to prove that your car entered the intersection 
on red.  If I come across them, when there's nobody behind me I enjoy 
stopping suddenly just before the intersection to force the first flash (I'm 
hoping that will wear out the camera faster), which seems to be 
radar-triggered, but never let it make the second.

But still, I try to avoid them.  There are two on my normal route that I can 
avoid by paying a 65 cent toll, and I'd rather pay the toll (no toll 
booth -- it's an electronic-payment-only tollway) than take a chance at 
being rear-ended by someone because I chose to stop for the light to avoid a 
$75 fine.

Regards,

Eric Rechlin