2nd Ave N & N 3rd St - I drive through that intersection at least once a week, sometimes more.

I'm kinda torn on this issue. I'm not cool with the privacy-type issues involved, but like the idea of enforcing traffic laws that actually have something to do with safety.

Quite true.

I'm not so sure I like the whole concept of big brother is watching you though. I think you should still be allowed a certain level of privacy at the public level. This could very easily be taken to the next level where sensors are built into cars and intersections and you're issued a ticket whenever you violate a law... In a similar situation, they're already doing this with speed caps and speed sensors in rental cars.

Presumably, if you are not breaking the law, then you shouldn't have any reason to care.

The problem comes, of course, when the laws are wrong. But that's a whole different argument.

I don't really care until the city starts using tickets as a major source of revenue. Where they intentionally issue far more tickets than is really needed to deter the crime. I give it about 3 years before they have many more cameras, and random yellow light durations.

http://wcco.com/topstories/local_story_196175134.html

(AP) Minneapolis More than 4,400 motorists including some police officers drove through red lights during the first 30 days of Minneapolis' "Stop on Red" program, police said Friday.

Nice

The main problem lies in what that reason is. Throwing a one-size fits all solution at a problem like safety results in artificially low limits almost universally. What's safe on a crowded road and on that same road with no traffic is very different. Speed limits, in the best care, reflect something a lot closer to the lower speed safe in crowded/degraded conditions. For better conditions they have no real relation to the reality of safe speeds. What's a lot more important is stuff like safe following distances, overtake speeds, red lights, etc. Speed is way down the list of important contributors to danger. Sure, there are statistics that say that "speed is a contributing factor in some high percentage of accidents" but the story those tell is generally a lie. It's not the guy going 20 over on an empty highway. It's the dude flying along at 40 over, or going way too hot into a turn, or speeding a bit but really just being inattentive. It's the person blowing by 20 mph faster than the guy in the next lane and getting merged into. It's some drunk flying down the road with degraded reflexes. Driving too fast and exceeding the speed limit are frequently unrelated. Yes, overly aggressive drivers who are a danger are likely to be exceeding the speed limit, but enforcement by weak correlation is really weak.

Rather than face the real problems, we just slap on overly low and rarely followed speed limits as a band-aid and let law enforcement rake in money on tickets. It's just far too difficult to turn our competent drivers and enforce things that actually make a legitimate difference in safety.

That's a little better, but I've found that traffic enforcement in that sort of situation is seldom especially concerned about much more than revenue.