Two months ago I wrote about red light cameras being more about revenue and less about safety. Now the D.C. Mayor has had the gall to admit just that.

The Washington Times reports the D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams has admitted "that the cameras were about 'money and safety.' The mayor is also reported to have said that the city was looking to expand the program, in part, to earn revenue to offset a projected $323 million budget deficit."

This has sparked AAA to pull their support for red light cameras in D.C. AAA spokesman, Lon Anderson says that there "have been studies that show that red-light cameras can cause an increase of rear-end accidents, but there aren't any hard numbers yet. The only reason we found out about the accident increases in San Diego is because the courts forced them to release all of the data," he said. The Times goes on to note that the San Diego vendor, Lockheed Martin IMS, placed cameras too close to the intersection and reduced the yellow-light time to make the cameras more profitable.

Mr. Anderson was also reported as being "furious" over the D.C. Mayor's stance on red light cameras. He goes on to say that "there is a mixed message being sent here. When using these cameras you should not have a vested interest in catching one person running a red light or speeding."

The fact remains that the best way to improve safety at intersections is to increase yellow light time. Cameras are just another tax on the public, and in many cases cause more accidents through rear end collisions than they prevent.