Red-Light Cameras Get Boost From Court Ruling

Don't expect the red-light camera at Brandon Town Center Drive and State Road 60 to go away any time soon. In fact, you could be seeing more red-light cameras at intersections throughout Hillsborough County.

Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeals has upheld a lower court’s decision to dismiss a challenge to the constitutionality of red-light safety cameras in the case of Salvatore Altimari vs. the State of Florida and the City of West Palm Beach.

Speed and red-light cameras are a type of automated enforcement technology used to detect and deter speeders and red-light runners. The cameras posted at intersections capture images of vehicles committing traffic violations – most commonly, speeding and red-light running.

Twenty-one states, including Florida, have enacted laws permitting some form of red-light camera use. Nine states prohibit their use and 20 states have no state law concerning red-light camera enforcement.

More than 50 Florida counties and cities have already implemented the use of automated cameras to issue traffic tickets for running red lights.

Altimari, who received a red-light running ticket from the city of West Palm Beach, challenged the constitutionality of the Mark Wandall Traffic Safety Act in his petition to Florida’s 15th Judicial Circuit Court.

The act, signed into law by Gov. Charlie Crist in 2010, is named for Mark Wandall, who was killed in 2003 in a traffic accident caused by a red-light runner.

On appeal, Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal rejected Altimari’s arguments and affirmed the lower court’s decision in its Feb. 27 ruling.

“The fact that this court followed the lead of dozens of courts across Florida and hundreds of other courts across the United States in upholding the constitutionality of red-light safety cameras is of no surprise. Rather it reaffirms the Mark Wandall Traffic Safety Act has a solid legal foundation,” said American Traffic Solutions’ general counsel George Hittner. 

American Traffic Solutions has a special interest in seeing the traffic safety act upheld. Based in Scottsdale, Ariz., ATS is the market leader in road safety camera installations in North America. The company has more than 3,000 installed red-light and speed safety cameras across the United States.

“Since its passage in 2010, the Wandall Act has enhanced safety throughout Florida," said Hittner. "It is time traffic-ticket attorneys stop giving their clients false hope that they will not be held accountable and, instead, encourage them to stop running red lights and jeopardizing the lives of others on the roadways.”

Red-Light Camera Detractors

The court's ruling is little consolation to the drivers who've received the $158 ticket and critics of red-light cameras.

Critics of speed and red-light cameras argue that they exist to make money for law enforcement agencies and question the technology's accuracy. And no one disputes that the cameras can be lucrative. Hillsborough County netted $1.2 million in fines from red-light camera violators in 2010. A portion of those proceeds go to the state, the Health Administration Trust Fund and the Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Trust Fund.

The National Motorists Association has gone so far as to assert that the cameras make intersections less safe because, the faster a driver goes through the intersection, the less likely the red-light cameras can make a positive identification. On the opposite end of the spectrum, there are drivers who will suddenly brake rather than go through the intersection, causing rear-end collisions.

Accidents Reduced

However, the enforcement tool has received the backing of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which claims the cameras have been effective in reducing intersection-related crashes.

According to the administration, Florida had 714 intersection-related crashes in 2011 with 53 fatalities. That's down from 786 in 2010. The high in recent years was 1,019 intersection-related accidents in 2007.

Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles statistics are even more impressive. In the 73 Florida jurisdictions with red-light cameras, side-impact crashes dropped 44 percent, rear-end collisions went down 41 percent and the overall number of crashes at red-light intersection fell 56 percent in 2011 (see attached report).

The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office was among the first agencies to launch a Red Light Enforcement Program. It began its program Dec. 29, 2009, placing red-light cameras at:

• Fletcher Avenue and Bruce B. Downs Boulevard
• Sligh Avenue and Habana Avenue
• Brandon Town Center and Brandon Boulevard
• Bloomingdale Avenue and Bell Shoals Road
• Waters Avenue and Dale Mabry Highway
• Waters Avenue and Anderson Road

In October 2011, the city of Tampa undertook a more more ambitious red-light enforcement program, posting cameras at 24 intersections.

While Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeals has upheld the constitutionality of the red-light law, the jury's still out on the effectiveness of red-light cameras.

Although the number of accidents at Hillsborough County's six red-light intersections decreased from 395 in 2008 to 240 in 2011, critics like the group Ban the Cams say the reduction in accidents may have nothing to do with the cameras.

Members argue that an increase in volume along with changes in traffic patterns could explain the reduction.

What do you think? Have you been "caught" by a red-light camera? Do you think this technology is fair?