We've had those in Germany for many years and, in my opinion, their benefit is more than dubious. There are a number of reasons why I have come around to this point of view:

Let me start out by saying that I always thought the American concept that a moving violation was supposed to have a teaching effect is a good one. But, it only works if the ticket is issued right then and there, and if the issuing officer has a chance to inform the culprit of what he or she did wrong and why that was dangerous. A ticket received weeks later in the mail is a nuisance but has no teaching effect — other than which intersections are fitted with cameras and which ones aren't.

To do it right, you'll have to take pictures from the front of the car to identify the driver. That means you'll have to require front license plates in every state. What about motorcycles? Do we require them to have license plates in front to achieve equality before the law? Do we forbid drivers to wear masks? Don't laugh; it is done all the time in Germany.

You'll also have to take at least two pictures in succession to prove whether the car or bike actually drove through the intersection or whether they just stopped beyond the stop sign. And, how long after the light turns red do we start taking pictures? In Germany the fine depends on how long after red you run the light.

Speaking of taking pictures…the cameras are going to run out of film. That means they'll flash in your face without any evidence being produced. (How startling is that? Quite a bit I assure you.) What happens is you'll never get a ticket. What do we learn from that? Chances are the film's full — that's no deterrent. By the way, some German communities are trying to save money by installing the flash units at a number of intersections but buy only one camera that then gets moved around occasionally.

In addition, motorists learn quickly how to beat the system. Just cover up the license plate or spray it with hairspray. The latter is less conspicuous and produces enough glare when photographed with a flash to make the plate illegible. People also use spray paint to paint the lenses of the cameras (probably disgruntled ticketees). I'm sure it won't take Americans long to discover the many ways to have fun with these things — especially since everybody's packing heat. On the lighter side, German police have large collections of pictures of late-night revelers who just love to moon the cameras.

I'm sure the accidents did go down in the IIHS study — mostly because of the extensive media exposure during the novelty period. Let's have another look in a couple of years.

I also noticed they didn't mention the administrative costs involved for the communities. In the next survey, let's ask: Would you be willing to pay another $X on top of your vehicle tax to pay for installing and maintaining these cameras? I bet you'd get different polling results.

If you want to get down and dirty why not order the car industry to install a device in every car that cuts the ignition and the fuel pump within 50 feet of a red light? And another one that locks up the brakes at every stop sign?

Whatever happened to "The Land of the Free?" R&D

* (The writer is an industry insider who has had extensive experience with red-light cameras in Germany where they originated and are still most aggressively used.)