At the end of February 2011, Orange County began issuing citations for red light runners at the 10 locations where red light cameras were installed.
Now, the County plans on increasing the number of cameras by 8 fold – installing an additional 80 cameras – and some drivers are crying foul saying that it is just a way to raise revenue for the County.
But, Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs is pushing back saying that red light cameras are about saving lives and preventing injuries.
Motorists who run a red light are fined $158 for each offense caught on camera. And since the County installed red light cameras about $2.3 million dollars have been collected from citations. But, over the past 14 months, only $400,000 has gone to the County, as the state takes almost 50 percent, with the remainder going to the vendor, according to wesh.com.
The Florida Civil Rights Association today decried the announcement to increase red light cameras county-wide, calling it a public safety scam which does nothing for public safety.
“It is obvious that Orange county officials are taking a low rent discount volume approach to scamming motorists out of their hard earned dollars,” said Henry Stowe, Transportation Chairman of the Florida Civil Rights Association.
J. Willie David, III the group’s president agreed saying “it’s about the money, not public safety.” Orange county officials are conducting an organized campaign to fleece motorists out $158 while doing nothing for public safety, he added.
FCRA added that motorists are catching on to the government’s scam and are starting to fight back in court. In fact, according to County data, while about 20,000 notices of violation have been issues, about 5,000 people are challenging their camera citations.
Stowe described the installation of the cameras as “unconstitutional, unsafe and outrageous.” He said the Mark Wandall Traffic Safety Act is vague in is wording and cameras still ticket the owner of the vehicle and not the driver. Stowe added that cameras have “no basis in safety” as fatalities where red light cameras are installed dropped prior to their being introduced on Florida highways.
Jacobs suggested Tuesday, the data will support the claim that the cameras help public safety.
Completely about money.
Not hard to figure out when most of the “violations” are right turns on red, stopping on or over the stop line and split seconds.
Heck the vendors are even “helping” write some of the reports claiming “safety”. http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/37/3703.asp Quote: “Red light camera vendor American Traffic Solutions (ATS) is furious that police in Kansas City, Missouri released a report last week evaluating photo enforcement intersections without giving the company a chance to modify the data. In many cities, ATS plays a key role in authoring such studies”
http://www.banthecams.org/Red-Light-Camera-News/kc-police-told-to-qcollaborate-or-at-least-consult-with-ats-before-releasing-more-info-on-rlc.html
The a reveiw of the “redo” turning a accident INCREASE at RLC intersections into a “decrease”. http://retiredpublicsafety.com/wp/a-factual-look-at-the-red-light-camera-program-in-kansas-city-mo-2
Quote: “Upon further reading, it turns out the police study had all of its data omitted, and the camera company wrote the executive summary. The old adage of the fox guarding the hen house applies here”.
http://www.motorists.org
http://www.banthecams.org
camerafraud on facebook.