GRACE PERIOD AT RED LIGHTS

Last Monday's Waterloo Region Record carried this story "Red light tickets soar despite little-known grace period". This grace period refers to the camera not snapping a picture until a split second after the light turns red. In Kitchener the grace period is .1 second. Other jurisdictions vary from no grace period to 1 full second or longer. The theory is that the light can turn caution (yellow) shortly before you enter the intersection and you can travel through the intersection primarily on the yellow which is legal. Interestingly "Against expert advice, Ontario cities don't advertise the grace period". Obviously those in charge think that motorists would be more inclined to attempt to run reds if they knew of the split second grace period. The facts however tell a different story. "...crashes increased 31 per cent and injuries soared 51 per cent after cameras were installed...". Clearly Waterloo Region residents are not slamming the gas as the light turns caution; instead they've been slamming the brakes with predictable consequences namely rear end collisions. Perhaps advising motorists that they have a very small grace period would dissuade panic braking to avoid a $325 fine. And as a result of dissuading panic braking it would also lessen rear end collisions at these intersections. Oh how a fairly good idea can go so wrong.