Red-light runners beware! Starting this week the city of Orlando, with the assistance of cameras monitoring seven intersections, will be issuing civil citations to those who ignore traffic signals. At the same time Orange County officials are wrapping up its seven-month trial run of keeping an automated, watchful eye on motorists, and will soon decide if they will follow suit in teaching redlight runners an expensive lesson in safe driving.
Obviously, the patience of the city and county is wearing thin for these drivers who put themselves, and others, in danger. “Drivers don’t see the danger they create until it’s too late,” said Orange County Commissioner Linda Stewart, who is championing the drive for an ordinance at the county level that would allow the use of cameras in assessing citations and fines. “Immediately you will see a reduction in red-light runners.
It’s such a huge risk people are taking. We have to break the habit.” The risk is huge. According to the National Campaign to Stop Red Light Running, in 2006 more than 170,000 crashes and almost 900 deaths in the U.S. were attributed to red-light running. In Florida, red-light running accounts for at least 100 fatalities and more than 6,300 injuries every year. In 2007, there were more than 525 red-light running crashes in Orlando.
And it seems the attitude of the public at large has also reached a tipping point on the issue. Multiple surveys, locally and statewide, show that up to 85 percent of citizens are in favor of cameras being used to catch red-light runners. Other cities and counties already have adopted their own ordinances. In Apopka, the number of red-light citations dropped from 262 in August 2007 to 21 in March of this year after cameras were installed at two intersections. Orlando is hoping for similar results.
On Tuesday, Sept. 2, the cameras were switched on and so was the new city ordinance allowing the city to begin issuing code-enforcement violations that are similar to a parking ticket, with no points deducted from a drivers license. These violation notices call for a $125 fine for the first two violations, and $250 thereafter in any three-year period.
If the fine is not paid, the citation will be referred out for collection, said Mike Rhodes, manager of Orlando’s Code Enforcement Division, which is handling the program. Police will still be issuing tickets to red-light runners when they see them, but officers will be spending less time actively looking for these offenders, freeing them up for other duties.
“The police won’t have to park at intersections. They will be out on patrol,” he said. The Orlando enforcement program calls for cameras and lasers to monitor 10 approaches at seven different intersections. The only intersection in East Orlando is at Goldenrod and Lee Vista roads. While this east-side crossroads, which is mostly out in the open with little surrounding development except for a Wal- Mart nearby, currently does not have a large volume of traffic, Rhodes said the city wants to curb a rising number of red-light runners in the area.
“We want to get a handle on that intersection before it gets worse,” he said. Rhodes added, however, that with each camera installation costing $60,000, there is a need to bring in revenue to support the program. In other cities where camera enforcement has been implemented, the number of violations tends to fall off rapidly after a few months, he said. As citations drop, so does revenue from the fines.
“We’re going to be watching the program very closely right out of the gate, looking at it monthly. If we’re not generating revenue, then we’re going to move the equipment to other intersections,” he said. But he stressed that the enforcement action is a “cost-neutral program,” and not intended to make money. There are no financial incentives offered to the private contractor based on number of violators. All the revenue will be reinvested into the program, he said, adding that if there is extra money, the city may expand the number of intersections being monitored.
Orange County must decide Meanwhile, Orange County has reached a crossroads of its own. After endless debate and a trial period when warning tickets were issued, commissioners are expected to vote this month on which direction they want to go. While County Attorney Tom Drage has voiced concerns that a local ordinance may contradict state law, there is support on the board to act, with commissioners Stewart, Teresa Jacobs and Bill Segal already in favor of red-light camera enforcement.
The results from the pilot program, which ran from February through August, may offer enough evidence of wrongdoing for others to join in. With three intersections monitored by eight cameras — John Young and Central Florida parkways, Orange Blossom Trail and Holden Avenue, and Hiawassee Road and State Road 50 — the county issued a total of 6,640 “courtesy warning notices” through Aug. 20, according to Krista Barber, Orange County traffic engineer.
“When you put into perspective that this is out of tens of thousands of vehicles, it is not a huge number, but any number is of concern,” she said. “We’re looking at the numbers now and preparing a summary for the board.”
The report to commissioners will also include a look at comparable counties that already have implemented the program as well as the program’s projected cost in Orange County. In earlier discussions, the board had talked about instituting a fine ranging from $60 to $125. Once again, these intersections were chosen due to their large traffic volume and number of crashes.
In 2005 Hiawassee and S.R. 50 recorded average daily traffic of 98,490 and 63 crashes, followed by John Young and Central Florida Parkway (91,868 and 45), and OBT and Holden (84,665 and 57). Statistics from 2005 were used, Barber said, because that’s how long the county has been considering such a program.
This also happens to be how long state legislators have wrestled with the issue but failed to pass a law addressing the cameraenforcement issue. This lengthy delay on the part of the state is unconscionable to Commissioner Stewart, and a call for local action. “Should we subject our citizens in Orange County to getting killed on highways in the hope that the state will act? No! “I just think it’s a big failure for us not to recognize the safety value of such an ordinance,” she said.
“I’m going to try again and use the new data to argue that we need a local ordinance. I’m hoping that the data collected will allow me to get four votes to pass this.” The state’s lack of action is exactly why the city of Orlando moved forward on its own, Rhodes said. Using cameras to enforce traffic laws is an important public-safety initiative, he said, with public-advocacy groups pushing for change at the state level, without success.
Locally, he offered a vivid anecdote on how the city also has received public support for its stand. “After the ordinance was adopted, we got a ‘thank-you’ saying, ‘Here’s a picture of me and my car, which was destroyed by a red-light runner at an intersection,’” Rhodes said. “Unfortunately, it happens a lot. There’s some real nervy people out there. We see them all the time.”
