UNRENOWNED

I haven’t posted in a while and I’ve got a good excuse. I started a new job and have been working my tail off. It’s amazing that I went from twiddling my thumbs to a job that has taken me completely out of my comfort zone.

As Senior Security Engineer for Integrated Data Storage. I’m responsible for designing and implementing information security solutions for various clients. I now have the opportunity to interface with many different companies and help them solve their information security goals and requirements. Check out my profile here. I’ve had to quickly get up to speed with how the company works and the numerous technologies that we provide. I’ve been getting certifications and setting up a testing/demo lab.

As far as this personal blog goes, I haven’t had much time to stay up to date with what is going on in the world. If you’re reading this, I’m sure you know the other places to find me. In case you don’t, hit me up on Twitter and Facebook to see my day-to-day meanderings. I’ll be back!

The Daily Herald reports that Scaumburg, IL was testing red-light camera technology in order to reduce the number of accidents at high traffic intersections. This sounds reasonable to me but according to many of the comments to this story, nobody seems to think this is a effective strategy. It’s the classic idea of negative reinforcement. If I’m going to get a $100 ticket for running a red light, I’m going to make sure that I don’t run that light.

My issue is not with the validity of the red-light camera technology. Many say that these cameras help to initiate tickets that wouldn’t normally garner a traffic stop by an officer. I have no idea how the technology works. It is also possible that Mayor Larson isn’t being completely truthful when he said “It was not our intent to use them as a revenue generator”. Even though they generated over 10,000 tickets in 2.5 months and collected almost $1 million. It’s reported that many of these tickets were for people who didn’t make a complete stop when making a right turn on red. (Which I know I’m guilty of.)

My beef is that enough people would complain and threaten to stop patronizing local establishments while these cameras are in place. Wouldn’t it be more logical to stop running red lights? Are you really going to get to your destination faster by inching through the intersection in anticipation for the light to turn green? I’m mostly concerned about the people putting on their makeup, eating a cheeseburger and talking on the phone without bothering to look around before going through intersections or making a turn.

So, the red-light cameras might be a complete sham solely to increase revenue. What if the Mayor is sincere in wanting to limit/prevent the number of accidents? If common sense doesn’t help and hitting the pocket book doesn’t help, what will get people to use more precaution while driving?