> Not surprisingly, the insurance industry is a very
> vocal advocate of automatic ticket-writing machines
> such as "traffic enforcement cameras". The makers
> of these machines usually provide them to the police
> in exchange for a *percentage of the income* generated
> by them. Everybody wins! The jurisdiction gets
> revenue, the manufacturer gets profits, and the
> insurance company rakes in increased premiums from
> otherwise safe drivers. Everybody wins, that is,
> except the driver, who's the victim of this money grab.
In the case of red light cameras, I don't think the insurance industry is
putting any money into them. Photo radar may be a different story. The red
light cameras are usually a partnership between the municipality and the
manufacturer, Lockheed Martin. They install the cameras, process the
tickets, and then just the send the city a check. When the revenues don't
come in as expected, they make changes to the 'gotcha' zone in order to get
more people.
The most famous donation by the insurance industry was when GEICO provided
laser guns to many police departments. GEICO has a long history of
exorbitant rate increases for violations, and has even cancelled policies
when they found out the holder had a radar detector. These horror stories
were hashed out a few years back in Car and Driver.
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