The hunt for... a traffic surveillance camera!

I: Find a traffic surveillance camera or a traffic detection camera. Take a picture of it and state where you found it. State how it works.

Picture (sorry it's a little blurry, my camera is broken):

II: In order to find this item, I made sure that I had my camera with me whenever I was traveling in a car and I kept my eyes pealed in hopes of spotting a traffic camera. When I did find one I would hurry and get my camera out so that I could snap a picture of the traffic camera before I passed it. Sometimes I was unable to get the picture quickly enough. The picture of the traffic camera seen above was taken at the intersection of University Avenue and First Street in Champaign. I was actually surprised by how many traffic surveillance cameras there are around town.

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, these traffic cameras work very simply. The traffic camera is connected to the traffic signal and also to sensors that monitor the flow of traffic. The system is constantly monitoring the traffic signal. Then, if a vehicle enters the intersection after the traffic light has turned red, then the camera is triggered, and a picture of the vehicle is taken. Entering the intersection after the light has turned red is the only to trigger the camera to take a picture. The camera records the date, time, elapsed time since the beginning of the red light, speed and the license plate. Then, upon review of the photographic evidence, tickets are mailed to the owners of the vehicles that were in violation of the law. However, not all cameras are just red light cameras. Some monitor the traffic, give real-time traffic updates, alert emergency response services if there is an accident, and help to gather information about traffic patterns at different locations. How the cameras are used depends on the county that they are in, and the laws within that county.

III: When trying to decide on the type of determinist view to choose for an infrastructure, I believe one must look at the reason for the invention of the technology in the first place. I believe that the traffic surveillance camera is an infrastructure that would be considered to be a cultural determinant. The reason that traffic surveillance cameras were invented in the first place was because there were too many people breaking the law and running red lights. Officials wanted to both make people more scared to break the law and also feel the consequences if they were caught, thus reducing the number of people committing these violations. Therefore, the development of the traffic surveillance camera is one that was caused by the actions of those within the society/culture, not the other way around.

Source: "Q&As: Red light cameras." Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Highway Loss Data Institute. 2009. 10 Feb. 2009 .