August of last year, the City made some changes to the traffic lights around town, among those changes included installing flashing yellow left turn signals in a couple of locations and Red Light Cameras at two other spots.

The buzz around town is not entirely positive.

The thinking behind the new yellow flashers is that they will allow traffic to flow while preventing collisions, but one person I overheard complained that the light at 312th and Hwy 99 is confusing.

Just when we started getting used to those crazy traffic roundabouts by Weyerhaeuser, the traffic control system gets worse.

Something that the City has done for the City, however, is the installation of surveillance cameras at the east side of South 348th and Enchanted Parkway and also at 320th and Pac Hwy.

Called "Red Light Photo Enforcement" cameras, the system, supplied and operated by American Traffic Solutions, is designed to detect any cars that enter the intersection when the light is red, take a snapshot of your car and license plate and then mail you a ticket.

Motorists who are in the intersection anytime before the light turns red will not trigger the robot cam.

The Federal Way City Council voted last October to create a Traffic Safety Fund from monies collected from red light scofflaws. At $124 dollars per violation, and with the gas pedal nuts in this town, that adds up quite nicely.

In the three-month pilot program, over 2,300 lead-footed law-breakers blew through those bright reds and though they were only issued warnings, the potential dollar figure of collected fines would have topped $288,000.

As of last September, the cops began mailing the real thing.

The cops say, in a press release issued at the time of the pilot program, that any revenues collected that exceed the cost of the operating the system will be split amongst the Municipal Court, Public works and the Police department donut fund. (I made up that last part.)

If you are one of the fools who decides to blast through a Big Red, you will more than likely get a letter in the mail with an infraction notice and fine, along with a photo of your license plate and a neat link to the City's webpage where you can punch in your citation number to see a fun video of your blatant faux pas.

There a number of problems with this set up.

1. The issuee typically is sent the ticket via first class mail (as opposed to being sent via registered mail or having it handed to them by a traffic officer). What if they don't get that mailing, or do not understand it and fail to comply with a remittance of cash.

That person will almost certainly be issued an arrest warrant. Not good.

2. You loan your car to your Aunt Wanda. She's from California and...well you know how people from California drive, "CLICK"...she's an outlaw...and she's in your car! Since the ticket is mailed to you, you have to turn in your poor Aunt Wanda. No more cookies for you, Bob.

3. Now that you've committed an infraction by roaring through the red, it's your word against Robo Cam, and he (or she?) is not talking. Maybe I stopped at the white line, then moved forward tad and stopped again. Is that wrong? Last time I read my little Book on The Constitution, being able to face your accuser is a legal right in this country.

4).Do Ticket Cameras really improve safety? So far, there are no independent studies to verify this, only claims by the system manufacturers.

There are ways to decrease the number of accidents without the Orwellian/Homeland Security surveillance.

Increase the length of the yellow light and make sure there's a pause before the cross traffic light turns green. According an article posted on the webpage for The National Motorists Association, some cities around the country are doing exactly the opposite and are decreasing the length of time for "amber cycles" as a means for increasing infractions and revenue.

That's just dirty pool.

In one case, the local government was forced to issue refunds by more than $1 million to motorists who were issued tickets for running red lights. Ok, so if you're wondering if the tone of this column indicates that I myself blundered into a ticket for running a red, the answer is no.

Although I did get a speeding ticket early last month, but I was in Des Moines jurisdiction and the nice Court people there let me just pay a fine, with no traffic school and no blot on my record. Also, Des Moines doesn't have any Red Light Robots.