Short Yellows?

As suspected, Chicago is using the barest federal minimum in its yellow traffic signals:

• The difference may be little more than a snap of the finger, but yellow lights on city traffic signals are shorter than ones in the suburbs. That gap is fast becoming fodder for a new and murky front in the battle over red-light cameras.
  
  Most Chicago yellow lights last three seconds, the bare minimum recommended under federal safety guidelines. In the suburbs, yellows generally stay on for four to four-and-a-half seconds.
  
  Cameras are touted as an effective tool to combat red-light running, but critics claim Chicago's shorter yellows undermine that premise by making it harder for motorists to stop in time and inflating the volume of tickets.

As long as they're using the established federal minimum, this story is a non-starter. Shortshanks and his camera-connected buddies are operating within the law. We've seen studies that say the extra half second to one second on a yellow light reduce crashes, but this was never about safety, at least not here in Chicago.

Here's a funny quote though:

• But speed limit is just one factor in determining how long yellow lights should be, said Brian Steele, a spokesman for the Chicago Department of Transportation. [...]
  
  "What may have been successful in one community might not be successful in the city," Steele added.

Isn't that the rationale that city lawyers have been using for keeping the Chicago handgun ban in effect? What is it about Chicago that compels a complete departure from the established norms everywhere else in America? Restaurants across America serve foie gras and trans-fat-laden foods with nary a problem, but Chicagoans are too dumb to know what they're putting in their digestive tracts, so our City Council bans it. Crime goes down in 48 states where handgun ownership isn't subject to unconstitutional restrictions, but Shortshanks claims the streets will run red with blood if everyone can keep a gun in their home. Four-and-a-half second yellow lights are good enough for most other jurisdictions, but even a half-a-second increase in a Chicago yellow light means Chicago drivers turn into assholes?

The mind boggles.