Having recently been nailed for one of these so-called "violations" on the West Side Highway in NYC, I can tell you that this is a clear case of greedy municipalities looking for another way to put a hand on your pocket.

I appealed the violation in the mail, on the grounds that the yellow was too short for me to come to a safe, controlled stop. It was of such a brief duration that it was clearly designed to make unsuspecting drivers either A) slam on their brakes or B) accelerate through the yellow only to have it turn red in half a second and have your X5 snapped on candid camera.

Of course my appeal was turned down, and to really make matters worse the NYC DOT tacked on another $25 to the $50 fine, claiming I was taking too long to make my payment!

Hopefully there will be an increased grassroots campaign to expose red light cameras for the sham that they truly are. It's a disgusting way to rip off law-abiding motorists on a false pretense of "safety".