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I go back and forth on them.
I like the idea, really, as Phoenix pretty much tops the country in red light running caused accidents. I hate sitting at a light that is green because the intersection takes 15 seconds to clear due to all the morons puching their way through the light that has been red for a while.
In Phoenix, though, they are pretty much a joke. They are mailed to you. Because they are mailed through an imperfect system and there is no witness that you actually received the ticket, you can throw them away with no penalty. Sometimes the city will decide to serve you, but often times it takes so long that the ticket is no longer valid.
I live right next to the first highway in the US to have speed cameras. That's causing an even bigger battle than on the red light cameras.
In Phoenix, the photo systems are required to have an image of the driver. If there is no clear image of the driver, then the ticket is not sent out. So, since the cameras are immobile and everyone knows where they are, many people are wearing masks as they drive or hold up a piece of newspapaer or some such thing to hide their face, and then the system doesn't work.
I'm all for stopping red light running. It's dangerous and stupid. But I don't think photo enforcement is practical because it simply doesn't work with all the ways to circumvent the system.
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