A new research report outlines problems with the growing trend among cities to outsource traffic enforcement to red-light and speed camera vendors.
“Too many cities wrongly sign away power to ensure the safety of citizens on the roads when they privatize traffic law enforcement. Automated traffic ticketing tends to be governed by contracts that focus more on profits than safety.” said Phineas Baxandall Ph.D., the Senior Analyst for Tax and Budget Policy at the Public Interest Research Group and a co-author of the report.
“That shouldn’t happen,” Baxandall added.
The report finds that approximately half of all states allow the use of automated traffic law enforcement. Municipalities in these states contract with private companies to operate cameras and issue citations to drivers.
Citizens often object to privatized forms of traffic enforcement and many municipalities have found themselves in legal trouble when they attempt to change or update these contracts.
Traffic engineering alternatives, such as lengthening yellow lights, are often the best way to reduce injuries from red-light running. However, those solutions often get ignored because of the focus on increasing revenue from tickets.
The nationwide policy study finds that 1-in-5 Americans live in jurisdictions with traffic camera ticketing contracts. It describes which kind of contracts are most problematic for the public: those that create a direct financial incentive to issue more tickets and create penalties that limit the public’s ability to lengthen yellow light intervals or other alternative ways to promote traffic safety.
California profits
California is one state that has seen over a hundred cities contracting for automated traffic enforcement and often running into lawsuits and other scandals.
“I believe traffic tickets should be only issued to improve public safety, not to raise revenue. Regrettably, that’s not what happens in some jurisdictions," said California state senator Joe Simitian. "In too many cases, issues of accuracy, privacy, and due process are taking a back seat to the profit motive. I think we can keep folks safe and still give the driving public a fair shake.”
Gary Biller, executive director of the National Motorists Association, called the repoprt “a must-read for city administrators in municipalities considering the addition of red light cameras, for authorities in communities that already have ticket cameras, and for motorists who are subjected to the privatized, for-profit automated traffic enforcement scheme known as red light cameras.”
5 steps
The report recommends stronger guidelines to ensure that automated traffic enforcement programs focus on improving road safety, rather than ticket revenue. Deals between local governments and traffic camera vendors should:
• Put public safety first in decisions regarding enforcement of traffic laws – this includes evaluating privatized law enforcement camera systems against alternative options without regard to potential revenues.
• Ensure that contract language is free from potential conflicts of interest.
• Avoid direct or indirect incentives for vendors that are based on the volume of tickets or fines.
• Retain public control over traffic policy and engineering decisions, including cancelling contracts if the public is dissatisfied.
• Ensure that the process of contracting with vendors is completely open, with ample opportunity for public participation and each ticket listing where to find online data about automated ticketing for each intersection.
“Some states have a real mess with their red-light camera programs. Other states are now wading into the waters. We’d like to see states that already have camera programs reform them and states considering programs learn from the mistakes of others,” said Ryan Pierannunzi, an associate with U.S. PIRG.
The report is available online.
Tom Morofski (Fri, 28 Oct 2011 21:06:04 +0000): No doubt these cities are PROFIT MOTIVATED far and away above any safety concerns or improvments. SIDE NOTE; Los Angeles, Ca already CANCELING their photo red lite program? NO ONE pays their tickets in LA anyway!
Michel Ditlove (Fri, 28 Oct 2011 21:09:30 +0000): The real problem is that just about everything in our country is profit motivated at teh expense of the citizens. From traffic to health care even to the lousy food served in supermarkets and restaurants. People no longer count in America.
Wayne Harris (Fri, 28 Oct 2011 22:37:46 +0000): GOD DAMNED COMMIES.
David Lyle (Sat, 29 Oct 2011 17:31:39 +0000): At first I agreed with red light cameras in Houston where I live. I have lived all over the USA. Literally from Tampa to Tucson and I regret to say that during my 15 year residence: Houston, Texas has by far the worst divers of any city I've experienced. However, it is clear to me after two citations in less than one year these cameras are calibrated with the red light signal that has a much quicker trigger than non-camera sites from the yellow light to the red. It's obviously all about the money. Due to it's enormous unpopularity the Mayor tried to resend the red- light camera policy. However the company who was contracted to install the cameras filed a law suit. Therefore, the cameras remain, raking in the hard earned cash of those caught in the millisecond caution light zone.
Michelle Erbeck (Sun, 30 Oct 2011 23:35:27 +0000): I have run into this before where the yellow time was only a few seconds, but the NTSHA standard for stop times at the speed of the road was almost an entire minute in good weather. On top of that they only allow your case to be here on only one day per month with no right to reschedule for a later date. That violates having due process.
Bonita Lewis (Mon, 31 Oct 2011 00:23:10 +0000): I think lengthening orange lights is a better idea.
Paula Shepherd (Mon, 31 Oct 2011 02:59:43 +0000): The problem we have in Tucson is the (1) the yellow isn't even long enough for a car to drive through the intersections before turning red - even if already in intersection before it turns yellow, & (2) the cameras are often malfunctioning, taking pictures of those not breaking the law! Overall, I believe it is against the law to use this system. I was under the impression an actual person needs to hand you [serve] a ticket.
Denise Funaro Psoinos (Mon, 31 Oct 2011 14:33:10 +0000): I was issued a parking ticket while I was taking my kids out of the car and I was able to beat it because the officer admitted his fault in not even looking at the vehicle to see if someone was inside it. Not half a day after dismissing that ticket a red light camera ticket that shows a picture of my vehicle passing through a red light showed up in the system. It was months and months old and I had never got a notice in the mail or anything. I had to wonder, given the circumstances: My kids were down with the flu during the week that I allegedly blew the red light and I never would have been in that area driving, let alone being out of the house. I've been second-guessing myself for a while on this one. I paid the ticket because there is no arguing the camera but it is all very strange and makes me wonder if tickets are being fabricated to generate revenue.
Janis Zalkin-Skloot (Wed, 02 Nov 2011 03:55:46 +0000): I feel that it can be a good thing to stop those drivers that go through red lights. Whenever I have a green light, I wait a second for those 2 or 3 cars to go through the light so that I don't have an accident.; In Long Island, where we have many red light cameras, the safest ones are those that have countdown don't walk signs. This allows the driver to judge exactly when the light will change and allows the driver to stop safely and not just jamb on the brakes and cause a rear end collision.