Poll Watch: Red Light Cams Lauded by Crain’s Readers

This graphic comes from an online poll Crain’s put up last week, once the expansion of New York’s red light camera program seemed assured. What I couldn’t fit into the screenshot is the headline, which reads, in huge type, “Should NYC continue using ‘spy cams’ at traffic lights?”

Interesting that cameras triggered when a driver has likely broken the law — and designed to capture identifying information about vehicles, not human faces — get saddled with the “spy cam” designation (also favored by the Post). Despite the leading headline, most Crain’s readers welcome the expansion of automated enforcement to deter dangerous driving. Makes you wonder what the results would be if “safety cams” were the devices at issue.