Long Island Red Light Cameras

Someone submitted two new red light cameras in Nassau today, which I just added to the map:

• Jericho Turnpike and Brush Hollow Road, in Jericho
• North Broadway (106/107) and Nevada Street, in Hicksville

I don’t know how anyone manages to drive into or out of Hicksville without getting a ticket. Practically every road leading into Hicksville has a red light camera on it. Be careful if you’re driving there!

Also, since Nassau just recently approved 50 more red light cameras, many more will be appearing over the next few weeks. I’m keeping my eyes peeled for an official list of which intersections are getting them, but in the in the meantime please continue adding them to the map here.

I justed added a new location at Lakeland and 454 in Ronkonkoma, but I’m not 100% sure if they’re red light cameras. I noticed them today but they’re different than usual. Normally the cameras are on top of new, conspicuous white poles that are about 15 feet tall.

But these ones are on top of the existing poles that held up the traffic signals, which are maybe 40 feet tall. They’re much harder to spot than the usual ones. Besides that they look exactly the same so I think they’re red light cameras.

If anyone can confirm please leave a comment below.

Just saw it today, which means Nassau has started adding the 50 new cameras they approved a few weeks ago. The ink wasn’t even dry!

If anyone sees any others please add them using the ‘Add New Camera‘ link.

I read an interesting article the other day about red light cameras, with a debate about whether they’re good for safety or just good for generating revenue. Some things pointed out by the author:

• Rear-end collisions at camera intersections are increased (I’d heard this several times before)
• New Jersey requires all yellow lights to last at least 4 seconds. However, red light camera intersections were found to have a 3 second duration, which resulted in 12,000 tickets being thrown out.
• In 2004, a Texas Transportation Institute study found that increasing the duration of yellow lights by 1.0 second reduced intersection accidents by 40 percent. So maybe increasing the yellow duration is enough to decrease accidents, without having to write any tickets. But that does’t generate revenue for local governments.
• Some jurisdictions like Houston and Anaheim have managed to completely ban red light cameras. Maybe we can do that here if enough people speak out against them, and reinforce it by voting against any local politicians who favor them.

There’s quite a lot more useful and interesting info in the full article, definitely worth reading.

Newsday had an article a few days ago explaining that the measure for a new batch of cameras proposed for Nassau County has passed the State Senate. It has to pass the Assembly before they can start adding the new cameras.

Another article a few days prior told about opposition to the new cameras, for example AAA is skeptical about whether the new cameras are really for traffic safety, as opposed to generating more revenue. I could have told them before the first cameras were put up that it’s almost entirely about revenue and has very little to do with traffic safety!

I knew it! It was only a matter of time before they decided to put up more cameras. Today’s Newsday had an article with all the details about 50 new red light cameras agreed upon for Nassau county. No announcement yet on the locations, I’ll add them to the site as soon as they’re announced though.