Should Montco Have Red Light Cameras?
The state legislature passes a bill allowing red light cameras in Montgomery, Chester, Delaware and Bucks counties.
According to a release issued by AAA MidAtlantic, the Pennsylvania legislature is wrapping up its session with a bill to allow red light cameras in the Philadelphia suburbs and in Pittsburgh.
House Bill 254 passed handily in the state Senate on Friday with 34 yeas and only 15 nays and if signed into law by Gov. Corbett, would reauthorize the red light camera program in Philadelphia through July 2017, but would also allow for the cameras to be used in Montgomery, Chester, Delaware and Bucks counties as well as Pittsburgh.
Municipalities eligible for the red light cameras would have to exceed 20,000 residents and have full-time police forces accredited by the Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association. That makes Abington eligible for the cameras.
Details of the law:
- Fines would be set at $100 (unless a lower amount is approved by the municipality.)
- The violation would not carry any points.
- The legislation prohibits frontal photographs of vehicles.
- The cameras only can be used for traffic enforcement, not surveillance.
Other Montgomery County communities that are eligible for cameras include, Horsham, Lower Merion, Lower Providence, Montgomery, Norristown, Upper Dublin and Upper Merion.
AAA says it strongly supports the same protections for citizens that are provided in Philadelphia’s red light camera program including:
- Posted warning signs telling motorists that red light cameras are present.
- Camera vendors are paid a flat amount, not related to number of citations issued.
- PennDOT has sole responsibility for approving intersections, and the camera locations are based solely on crash data, not traffic volume.
- Yellow light timing cannot be arbitrarily changed.
- Revenue goes to Pennsylvania’s Motor License Fund for safety and mobility projects throughout the state, not just the local jurisdiction.
Frankie DeCat
1:58 pm on Thursday, July 5, 2012
Keep finding ways to bring in the money .................The big goverment money eating machine needs more of our cash to pay for there liberal agenda. I'm just glad to be a cat.
Brian D. Bigelow
2:10 pm on Thursday, July 5, 2012
I absolutly agree, Frankie. Its always about the money. You are one smart cat.
Brian Ceccarelli
9:04 pm on Thursday, July 5, 2012
Yellow lights don't have to be changed. Yellow lights are already too short. That according to the laws of physics. The federal standards themselves are what force drivers to run red lights and why red light cameras are an industry. Read the paper "Misapplied Physics" and redlightrobber.com. Note the PhDs and the JDs backing the site.
If you want to make the roads safe, then increase the yellow light by 2 seconds. That will put the red light camera companies out of business. Increasing the yellow always is effective, has been for 100 years. The reason why there are crashes is because of a too-short yellow. Cameras will never change that. Suicide is far more an effective deterrent against running a red light than a camera that takes a picture of it.
James C. Walker
11:26 pm on Thursday, July 5, 2012
What the camera supporters won't tell you is that Philadelphia police data says the camera program there RAISED accident rates, both when they were new in 2005 and continuing through last fall after several years of operations. Oh, and guess which police agency was NOT invited to testify at a House hearing last fall about the cameras, the hearing where all the agencies in the $45 million dollar revenue stream from the cameras were invited to testify? I know, I know, that is a HARD question to answer. RIGHT. At the hearing, Philadelphia officials seemed very proud the program was able to reduce violations by about 50% after one year. In almost every case, red light violations can be reduced by 60% to 90% in ONE DAY with safer, longer yellow intervals, without the need to pick the pockets of drivers.
See our website for the research on how to engineer intersections for more safety at very low costs. Unfortunately, engineering for safety is not profitable, so many cities prefer to use predatory red light camera cash registers.
If Norristown officials value ticket revenue above safety, hang on to your wallets.
James C. Walker, National Motorists Association, Ann Arbor, MI (I was the NMA person who testified at the hearing, the only person not in the revenue stream from the cameras.)
Jim E
9:43 am on Friday, July 6, 2012
money grab
Mallison Schwartz
2:08 pm on Monday, July 9, 2012
Frankie you are dead on brother !