Put the Brakes on Red-Light Running

By Mike Boslet

At any given intersection in Orlando, motorists will run red lights. Thousands will do so every day.
Occasionally, one of those red-light runners could be me. I have rushed to beat a signal and, I am embarrassed to admit, I have lost my patience while sitting at long red lights late at night. Luckily, thankfully, my transgressions have not caused any accidents or led to any tickets.
Like most motorists who scoot through red lights, I know the chances of being caught and getting a ticket are low. And it is the chance of being caught, and not the risk of causing an accident, that motorists weigh foremost when breaking traffic laws. Still, like most motorists, I support the use of red-light cameras and stiff fines for violators. Cameras may not deter the occasional brazen and reckless driver, but they have shown to be terribly effective at reducing red-light running after the first few waves of tickets go out. The bottom line isn’t money for municipalities; it’s safety for motorists and pedestrians. Cameras can do what a limited supply of officers could never do: change motorists’ behavior.
Anyone with a smidgen of common sense knows this, but incredibly, to me at least, the use of red-light cameras long has been a controversial subject in the Florida Legislature. A few powerful legislators, particularly Sen. Daniel Webster, R-Winter Garden, and Sen. Carey Baker, R-Eustis, have been stubborn opponents of red-light cameras.

Orlando officials decided some time ago to wait no longer on red-light camera legislation and move ahead with plans to install cameras. By sometime this summer cameras could be mounted at 10 approaches (the direction of traffic) at various intersections, although it’s likely that by the time the city has its cameras up a state law supporting red-light cameras may be on the books. The problem is which law? The original House bill favored by many city and Orange County officials called for a $125 fine, while the Senate version, after Baker got his hands on it, called for a $60 fine for the first three violations issued to a vehicle owner. The fourth violation would carry a $125 fine. Obviously, the higher fine would be the greater deterrent and would bring in more money to help fund the costs of operating the systems. Deputy City Attorney Jody Litchford says red-light cameras will cost Orlando $50,000 per approach a year to lease and maintain. Each ticket issued could cost the city as much as $70 in overhead, she said.

Recently, Apopka brought red-light running at two of its busiest intersections to a trickle. The city, like a few other municipalities in Florida, issues city code violations and not traffic citations as a way to sidestep the lack of a state law allowing red-light cameras. (Orlando seemed likely to follow suit with a similar type of fine if the legislative session that was to end May 2—after we went to press—failed to produce a red-light camera law.)

Just how effective are the cameras in Apopka? Sgt. Stephan Brick says the numbers will blow your socks off:
• In the first two weeks of camera use beginning July 15, 281 violations, at $125 each, were issued.
• In the first full month of the program (August), 265 violations were issued.
• A month later, violations had dropped into the mid-100s, numbers that would suggest that motorists were aware of the cameras.
• And by November and December, violations were down into the double-digits, with only 18 issued in one month.

As telling as those numbers are to the impact of red-light cameras, Brick points to evidence that the
monitoring systems create safer streets. In the first six months of 2007, he says, there were six pedestrian fatalities in Apopka, four within a half-mile of the red light at Sheeler Road and South Orange Blossom Trail. Since the cameras were installed, for the last six months of ’07, there were no pedestrian fatalities.“ Cameras make motorists more aware of their surroundings,” Brick says, adding he has seen no evidence of increased rear-end collisions since the cameras began operating.
Orange County Commissioner Linda Stewart could only hope that red-light cameras would have a similar effect on county roads. Stewart says a Department of Transportation study of the seven busiest intersections in Orange County counted 11,000 red-light violations. In a day.“ There are 400 intersections in Orange County—now how could we possibly police all those?” asks Stewart, who’s spearheading the county’s red-light camera initiative. The answer is obvious, which is why red-light cameras are the answer.