Senate panel reviews red light camera issue again
Oct 17, 2011
The following article was published in The Florida Current on October 17, 2011:
Senate panel reviews red light camera issue again
By Gray Rohrer
A rehash of the red light camera fight could be on tap again for the upcoming session.
Members of the Senate Transportation Committee briefed the issue Monday, hearing from local elected officials and law enforcement officers urging them to keep the cameras in place.
In 2010, the Legislature voted to allow local governments to put up red light cameras at intersections. This year, however, the House narrowly passed – by a 59-57 vote – a measure repealing that law, but it was not taken up on the Senate floor.
Senators raised several objections to the red light cameras, namely that the photographs or videos from the cameras were being used to prosecute crimes other than red light infractions, and that fines are being sent to people who weren’t driving when the incident took place.
Sen. Rene Garcia, R-Miami, an opponent of red light cameras, asked whether lawmakers should limit the way municipalities spend revenue gained from red light cameras by forcing them to use it for law enforcement or public safety.
“Why aren’t they using those funds to protect our citizens instead of filling those holes in their budgets? If this is for safety, let’s use it for safety,” said Garcia, who filed the Senate version of the repeal bill this year.
Meanwhile, Rep. Scott Plakon’s animus towards the red light cameras grew Monday when he received a $260 ticket for illegally turning right on a red light, even though he wasn’t driving the vehicle. The citation originally was sent to an old address, and Plakon only received it after it was forwarded to him by a postal worker who lived nearby. If he hadn’t received the citation, his license could have been suspended.
“Which could’ve led to a state legislator hauled away in handcuffs not even knowing what the infraction was,” the Longwood Republican said.
Plakon explained that his family has seven drivers, and he doesn’t intend to “interrogate” his children to discover which one was driving. He hired a lawyer and is fighting the ticket, and said he will push harder for a repeal of red light cameras during this coming session.
“I voted against the law, I voted for the repeal and tried to rally support for it. This year, I’m going to be even more vocal,” Plakon said.
But local government officials defended the cameras as a legitimate, useful tool to combat traffic scofflaws.
Apopka City Commissioner Kathy Till said that red light infractions and rear-end collisions have gone down since the city installed the cameras.
“Do they work? You better believe they work. I can see them actually stop at that intersection,” Till said.
The angst over the cameras aside, committee chairman Sen. Jack Latvala, R-St. Petersburg, said his panel will take up bills to make yellow light durations uniform across the state for varying speed limits.
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