St. Petersburg (FL) to shut down red-light cameras

I just saw this. Great news, lets hope other Florida cities follow suit.

For those who had doubts about the RLC program this decision should tell all, if it was about safety don’t you think government should keep funding it regardless if money is generated?

Last time I checked neither traffic lights or stop signs cover the cost of the program, they are part of keeoing us safe.

totally agree if it stops people from running red lights and maybe even unnecessary accidents, injuries, or deaths why not just keep it in place.

I agree totally. The idea is to keep us safe so there is no intersection collisions that cost lives.

From a Tampa Tribune Article:

"The move comes after a series of controversies about motorists being tick­eted at intersections where stop lights cycled too quick­ly from green to red. Reve­nue from the program has dropped due to a sharp de­cline in the number of mo­torists receiving the $158 tickets, evidence that the program has encouraged more drivers to brake rather than accelerate when they see a yellow light, Mayor Rick Kriseman said.

Only 1,043 citations were issued in January, more than 2,000 fewer than the monthly aver­age during the program's first year. Kriseman said he does not rule out bringing cameras back or using oth­er technology if red-light running begins to increase."

Now if we can get New York, Chicago, DC, and Dallas/ FW areas to agree to remove their red-light cameras....

http://www.baynews9.com/content/news/baynews9/news/article.h...

ST. PETERSBURG --
The city of St. Petersburg is planning to do away with its red-light cameras, but that doesn't mean they'll be disappearing from other Tampa Bay area communities.

At least 13 local municipalities say they're keeping their cameras until lawmakers tell them they can't have them. Among them are Tampa, Lakeland, Clearwater, Bradenton and New Port Richey.

Very happy to hear this. Hope others will follow!

Our neighbor across the Bay goes the other direction.

http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/baybuzz/unlike-st-petersburg-t...

While the city of St. Petersburg is pulling the plug on its red light camera program, Tampa police want to renew theirs for two more years.

"We have no plans to get rid of the red light camera program," city spokeswoman Ali Glisson said recently when asked about St. Petersburg's decision. "They are changing behavior and keeping our roads safer."

A local reporter falls for the RLC industy's 'safety story' and gets slammed in the comments:

http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/accidents/loving-a...

Are red light cameras really any different from cops armed with radar guns on a stretches of road notorious for speeding? And won't a lot of those drivers likely think twice after the bite of a ticket?

Same for Pima County outside of Tucson.

Another example of how a good idea gets taken too far and is then pulled back. Most of us have been irritated watching 7 or 8 vehicles blatantly go through an intersection in front of us while the light is green on our side. This is what the cameras are for.

Problem is, the greedy money-grab with shortened yellow timings in at least one case and the policy of ticketing vehicles that went through the intersection 400 milliseconds after the light turns red has everyone turning a critical eye to these cameras.

If municipalities could be happy ticketing the last 7 of those 8 vehicles, the cameras could stay active and safety would be improved without the increase in rear-end collisions caused by panic-braking from aggressively configured cameras.

Of course, if they're pulling the cameras because they're not making enough money, well, then I guess that pretty much says it all.

I am glad they are being removed in St. Petersburg. Hopefully, they will be removed everywhere else too.

I believe that RLCs can be an effective strategy for improving safety at intersections.

After all, why do drivers speed up approaching an intersection when the light turns yellow? There is a high probability they will end up going through the red light, and almost as high a probability that nothing will happen... almost always nothing will happen.

And they will have saved two to three minutes of their drive.

Changing behavior is not easily accomplished, and certainly not by implementing only a single strategy.

RLCs by themselves are not enough to cause a person to slow down when they see a yellow light. But when implemented without other processes, RLCs become an easy target for those opposed to RLCs, opposed to interference with the right-to-drive, or simply opposed to excessive taxation. When municipalities are exposed for setting up traps, the opposition to RLCs only becomes stronger.

As long as municipalities don't implement multi-facet traffic safety initiatives, RLCs will likely fail to achieve their intended effect.

they would have simply increased the fines to make the program financially viable.

What he said.

Awesome news about the shutting down of the cameras. Wish this was done around other parts of NA.

Well said

a step in the right direction.

criminal amnesty month, where all around the nation, laws are not enforced for 31 days. Anything goes. Whomever survives, gets the spoils.

I'm not sure what you are referring to, but I don't think anyone is saying it is OK to break the law. Just that this method of enforcement is unacceptable.

Eggscellent!

They just have to boost the fines to $1000-$2000 per infraction & their economic worries are gone.

How short sighted of them! NOT!!!

Fred

Since here in Chicago the rationale is always about improving public safety, not revenue, the city needs to be hassled into taking the money the cameras generate and invest it in upgrading the problem intersections to remove the hazard-add a turn lane, remove the obstacles blocking vision, or whatever. I haven't really gone after the local unions yet, but it seems to me with all their members needing work and the city raking in 70 million dollars that money could be spent to generate jobs in modifying the intersections. Half might to to engineering studies, but the remaining 35 million would put a lot of people to work. Then, once they are done, the city could remove the cameras.

--Sounds like this is well worth looking into, to me!

It could do some actual good on many fronts, not to mention being a real show of being actually motivated by safety and constituent well being, instead of the pure unadulterated money grubbing greed that it really appears to be!

--However, I expect that Chicago (and many other RLC locations everywhere) will prove that it's really all about the money grubbing greed after all, and we will all watch their actions to see for ourselves! Go ahead Chicago, and all other such participating RLC cities and states... we really are watching you for the answer to this!!!

I too think this, and the above two posts, tell us all we need to know.

http://www.wtsp.com/story/news/investigations/2015/05/18/mor...

CRASHES DON'T RISE AFTER ST. PETE PULLS CAMERAS

Using the state's FIRES portal, 10 Investigates checked collision and injury stats for every St. Petersburg intersection that had been monitored by red light cameras. Comparing incidents approaching -- or in -- the nine intersections, there was no increase in accidents after the city terminated its RLC program on Sept. 30, 2014.