Crews for the city’s Department of Transportation (SDOT) will install 57 traffic-monitoring cameras across Seattle between now and the end of the year as part of a citywide strategy to gauge and tame congestion. The cameras won’t be used to ticket drivers for traffic violations, says SDOT spokesman Rick Sheridan. “These are merely real-time images of traffic conditions and we don’t retain images at all,” he says.
The city already maintains 74 cameras that contribute data to the city’s travelers website; the additional cameras will add more data to assist drivers.
“We hope that people will, prior to making their trip, go to our travelers info system map and assess traffic conditions,” Sheridan says. “If traffic moves through a variety of pathways to avoid congestion, that spreads out traffic more across the system.”
Seems like kind of a waste to be running around spending money to give drivers access to info about alternate routes, because it “spreads out traffic more across the system,” after they’ve put up all those traffic circles and bulbs and speedbumps to funnel traffic away from bedroom communities and onto arterials. But I know how bad the NIMBYs can be, so I guess instead they have to buy cameras and see if they can win a war against the existing infrastructure of the last 30 years.
So long as they’re all downtown, where they act as an unregulated tax on non-Seattle drivers, I’m cool with this.
But they actually increase accidents, fwiw.
@2, you are the stupidest person who ever lived.
These aren’t red-light cameras. See “The cameras won’t be used to ticket drivers for traffic violations” in the article there? These are congestion cameras.
But you’ve already got a good lather going there; what difference does it make if your readymade answer doesn’t have anything to do with the question?
The stupidest person who ever lived on the earth, I swear to God.
4 -no, that’s you fnarf since you feel obligated to post every 2 minutes here. I rarely check the slog anyone because of idiots like yourself.
see also: “Traffic cameras used to harass and limit movement of peaceful protestors”, Boing Boing, November 21, 2009 (re: a recent article from The Guardian on the same)
WTF?! More red light cameras, please! We just took away $2.5 million a year to subsidize asshole car drivers, we don’t need to subsidize them more with fucking luxury Internet sites when we don’t even have complete bike paths or sidewalks. We still have by far the worst transit system of any major city on the west coast. Ugh.
@5, Jesus Christ, you’re as bad as Will. THESE ARE NOT RED LIGHT CAMERAS, FOOL. They are not used to issue tickets. They are not used to maintain databases of license plates. They are not used to harass or even become aware of protesters.
@4, not only that, but I’m whispering in your ear whilst you sleep.
Aww man. Those things are so effective. I got a ticket for running a red light because of one of those. Well, I guess I got the ticket because I ran the red light, but…
Fnarf, we’re making a point about studies showing that red light cameras and the fines create more traffic problems and really only function as revenue generators.
But the pics at the Fremont Bridge – hence my first comment – are really cool.
Now, get over yourself and stop parking in my bus zone or I’ll let the air out of your tires.
Will and Fnarf deserve each other. The biggest moron and the biggest pompous ass windbag. They should be locked in a room together for all eternity.
#8 Wow, you got a ticket from a camera that doesn’t even monitor drivers for traffic violations and hasn’t even been installed yet? I’m sure you could make a pretty good case for dismissal.
This is great. Now if only we had the set up like the autobahn and used those cameras to open and close lanes to adjust traffic.