Legislature is in session: Expect green light on traffic cams
By Frank Cerabino Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 6:34 p.m. Thursday, March 4, 2010
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If you don't like red-light traffic cameras, that joint venture of money-making in the guise of public safety, don't get your hopes up.
The Florida Legislature is in session.
Some of you were probably heartened by the ruling last month by a Miami-Dade circuit judge that declared red-light cameras in Aventura to be illegal. And others may also take solace that Royal Palm Beach postponed its camera-enforcement fines after discovering that too many drivers were getting tickets for making right turns on red. Or that Palm Springs and Juno Beach have extended the warning phases of their red-light cameras.
But this is no time for overconfidence. Did I mention that the Florida Legislature is in session?
So don't bother reminding me that state law requires an officer to "observe the commission of a traffic infraction," or that the Florida Attorney General's Office said "a photographic record of a vehicle violating the traffic control laws may not be used as the basis for issuing a citation for such violations."
There's too much money to be made by government and business.
Study results don't matter
So it doesn't matter what that Virginia-North Carolina study said.
"The results do not support the conventional wisdom expressed in recent literature and popular press that red-light cameras reduce accidents," it said. "Our findings are more pessimistic, finding no change in angle accidents and larger increases in rear-end crashes and many other types of crashes relative to other intersections."
That study is far less important than the Redflex Group Profit Announcement Report to the Australian Securities Exchange.
That company's U.S. subsidiary is the biggest operator of red-light cameras in America. Two years ago, the company's U.S. business increased 43 percent as the budget-challenged governments embraced this new stream of cash. But not in Florida, where Redflex has been eagerly waiting on the sidelines as the U.S. market has tightened because of legal challenges.
"Despite numerous competitive vendors' efforts, enabling legislation in Florida has not yet been enacted," the Redflex report said. "Some competitors have proceeded at risk with early programs."
The risk is that if cases, such as the one in Aventura, survive court challenges, Florida drivers ticketed by red-light cameras could get their money back.
But did I mention the Florida Legislature is in session?
Where there's a bill, there's a way
Yes, there's a bill that will not only sanctify these red-light cameras under state law, but retroactively make the ticketing prior to the legislation legal and immune to challenge.
So don't tell me about Minnesota having to repay motorists $2.6 million when that state scrapped its red-light cameras.
The big-monied interests in Florida have their team on the field now. The Florida Legislature is in session.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/legislature-is-in-session-...
Legislature is in session: Expect green light on traffic cams
By Frank Cerabino Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 6:34 p.m. Thursday, March 4, 2010
Post a Comment E-mail Print ShareLarger Type Small Type
If you don't like red-light traffic cameras, that joint venture of money-making in the guise of public safety, don't get your hopes up.
The Florida Legislature is in session.
Some of you were probably heartened by the ruling last month by a Miami-Dade circuit judge that declared red-light cameras in Aventura to be illegal. And others may also take solace that Royal Palm Beach postponed its camera-enforcement fines after discovering that too many drivers were getting tickets for making right turns on red. Or that Palm Springs and Juno Beach have extended the warning phases of their red-light cameras.
But this is no time for overconfidence. Did I mention that the Florida Legislature is in session?
So don't bother reminding me that state law requires an officer to "observe the commission of a traffic infraction," or that the Florida Attorney General's Office said "a photographic record of a vehicle violating the traffic control laws may not be used as the basis for issuing a citation for such violations."
There's too much money to be made by government and business.
Study results don't matter
So it doesn't matter what that Virginia-North Carolina study said.
"The results do not support the conventional wisdom expressed in recent literature and popular press that red-light cameras reduce accidents," it said. "Our findings are more pessimistic, finding no change in angle accidents and larger increases in rear-end crashes and many other types of crashes relative to other intersections."
That study is far less important than the Redflex Group Profit Announcement Report to the Australian Securities Exchange.
That company's U.S. subsidiary is the biggest operator of red-light cameras in America. Two years ago, the company's U.S. business increased 43 percent as the budget-challenged governments embraced this new stream of cash. But not in Florida, where Redflex has been eagerly waiting on the sidelines as the U.S. market has tightened because of legal challenges.
"Despite numerous competitive vendors' efforts, enabling legislation in Florida has not yet been enacted," the Redflex report said. "Some competitors have proceeded at risk with early programs."
The risk is that if cases, such as the one in Aventura, survive court challenges, Florida drivers ticketed by red-light cameras could get their money back.
But did I mention the Florida Legislature is in session?
Where there's a bill, there's a way
Yes, there's a bill that will not only sanctify these red-light cameras under state law, but retroactively make the ticketing prior to the legislation legal and immune to challenge.
So don't tell me about Minnesota having to repay motorists $2.6 million when that state scrapped its red-light cameras.
The big-monied interests in Florida have their team on the field now. The Florida Legislature is in session.
~frank_cerabino@pbpost.com
G.