Last month, Palm Beach County commissioners voted unanimously to install red-light cameras at busy intersections. Cameras could be installed at 9 to 30 intersections. Where state and county roads cross, the cameras can be deployed on the county side alone. The first cameras will start to show up in about 6 months.
But a close look at the cash likely to be raised from such cameras shows motorists are about to start writing checks worth millions of dollars a year at a time when local governments are looking for money to make up for voter-mandated property tax cuts.
If each red-light camera catches 30 violators a day, cameras at 10 intersections would produce fines worth about $13.7 million a year. If 30 cameras go up countywide, the county would issue fines worth $41 million annually. The catch? The companies installing and managing the cameras get to keep a percentage of each fine collected - one company has proposed a 50-50 split.
Citations would be $125 each. In Dallas, red-light cameras churn out $75 citations, while red-light violations in Los Angeles County cost $381.
The county will not shorten its yellow lights to ensnare motorists and the violations won't be triggered until a half-second after the light turns from yellow to red. Some cities' violations are triggered one-tenth of a second into a red light.
Also, Palm Beach County's red-light cameras won't be set up to issue violations for motorists making rolling right turns on red. A recent Los Angeles Times study found that about 80 percent of tickets issued in Southern California were for rolling right turns on red.
Appealing a red-light fine:
Palm Beach County's new red-light camera ordinance allows for appeals. But losing adds a $25 hearing fee to the $125 fine. Here are the acceptable grounds for an appeal:
1. 'I wasn't driving the car, and the person who was driving didn't have my permission to take the car.'
2. 'A police officer already gave me a traffic ticket for the same thing.'
3. 'If I hadn't gone through the light, I would have broken a law against (fill in the blank).'
4. 'If I hadn't gone through the light, I would have hit something or someone else, or I would have been hit.'
5. 'The traffic signal was malfunctioning.'
Here is an article on the installation of red light cameras in Palm Beach Country, Florida, published today in the Palm Beach Post:
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/ep...
Following are the main points of the article:
Last month, Palm Beach County commissioners voted unanimously to install red-light cameras at busy intersections. Cameras could be installed at 9 to 30 intersections. Where state and county roads cross, the cameras can be deployed on the county side alone. The first cameras will start to show up in about 6 months.
But a close look at the cash likely to be raised from such cameras shows motorists are about to start writing checks worth millions of dollars a year at a time when local governments are looking for money to make up for voter-mandated property tax cuts.
If each red-light camera catches 30 violators a day, cameras at 10 intersections would produce fines worth about $13.7 million a year. If 30 cameras go up countywide, the county would issue fines worth $41 million annually. The catch? The companies installing and managing the cameras get to keep a percentage of each fine collected - one company has proposed a 50-50 split.
Citations would be $125 each. In Dallas, red-light cameras churn out $75 citations, while red-light violations in Los Angeles County cost $381.
The county will not shorten its yellow lights to ensnare motorists and the violations won't be triggered until a half-second after the light turns from yellow to red. Some cities' violations are triggered one-tenth of a second into a red light.
Also, Palm Beach County's red-light cameras won't be set up to issue violations for motorists making rolling right turns on red. A recent Los Angeles Times study found that about 80 percent of tickets issued in Southern California were for rolling right turns on red.
Appealing a red-light fine:
Palm Beach County's new red-light camera ordinance allows for appeals. But losing adds a $25 hearing fee to the $125 fine. Here are the acceptable grounds for an appeal:
1. 'I wasn't driving the car, and the person who was driving didn't have my permission to take the car.'
2. 'A police officer already gave me a traffic ticket for the same thing.'
3. 'If I hadn't gone through the light, I would have broken a law against (fill in the blank).'
4. 'If I hadn't gone through the light, I would have hit something or someone else, or I would have been hit.'
5. 'The traffic signal was malfunctioning.'
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