Red-light enforcement brings towns big bucks

But do cameras make the roads any safer?

11:32 PM, Jun. 25, 2011 -APP.com

Whether red-light cameras improve safety at New Jersey intersections where drivers tend to disregard stop signals remains to be seen. What is certain is that the cameras are generating hundreds of thousands of dollars for municipalities that have them.

In Brick, for instance, the number of accidents at one intersection actually increased in the first year the cameras were operating. There also was an increase in the town’s coffers. After the state and the vendor got their fees, Brick still had well over $500,000 in revenue, which the town administrator said was used to offset property taxes.

The cameras are the result of a five-year pilot program that New Jersey enacted by law in 2008. Since then, 17 municipalities have installed cameras to catch drivers who run red lights. The goal is to reduce accidents at those intersections.

Statistics from municipalities with cameras running the longest do not show a significant decline in accidents at those intersections. Officials say the idea is to change the behavior of drivers. “The plan is to reduce the serious crashes at those intersections where traditional traffic enforcement is not possible,” said John Rein, a police captain in Brick, the first New Jersey municipality to have a red-light camera in operation.

An analysis released in February by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety determined red-light cameras saved 159 lives between 2004 and 2008 in 14 of the largest U.S. cities. The institute said that if cameras had been operating during that time frame in all large U.S. cities, 815 deaths could have been prevented.

New Jersey is one of 25 states with red-light cameras operating in at least one location, according to data from a national group, the Governors Highway Safety Association.

In New Jersey, tickets go to registered owners of vehicles caught running a red light. Fines are $85 in most areas, but if cameras are on a portion of road deemed a “Safe Corridor” – like two intersections on routes 1 and 9 in Linden and one on Route 1 in Woodbridge – the penalty is $140. Owners don’t get points on their driver’s licenses.