It's unfortunate that things like this is happening as we speak. However, I'm sure that are more than one side to this story.
No, there's really not. Corporate interests drum up irrational fear because someone saw a guy run a red light once, and they convince cities that their traffic camera system or whatever will increase safety AND bring in extra revenue for the city. The cities, of course, buy in. Once that happens, the fines that are generated from the camera usage are treated as a LINE ITEM in the budget. In the case of Chicago, the city has actually gone as far as to shorten the timing on lights and otherwise change the timing and turn arrow cycles to KEEP people running the lights so that the cameras make the amount of money they're supposed to. Police all over the place do a lot of the same thing, because the more bullshit traffic tickets they write, the more revenue the city gets and the more money the police get.
