Brick, NJ is pulling the plug on red-light cameras.

[PHLBOS]

Since Brick, NJ was one of our meet locations last year; I thought this might be of interest to a few here.  I heard about this last night on NJ 101.5 FM. 

Brick Pulling the Plug on Red-Light Cameras

Opening excerpt (bold emphasis added):

Brick Mayor John Ducey announced today that his town is ending its red-light camera program, in the wake of mounting evidence that the controversial vendor-driven practice is a play for revenue rather than an effective approach to traffic safety.

Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon (R) and Brick Mayor John Ducey (D) announce that Brick is shutting down its red light cameras (Dino Flammia, Townsquare Media NJ) Ducey said Brick's contract with American Traffic Solutions will not be renewed and the town's cameras, which have resulted in the issuance of 74,000 traffic tickets since 2010, will be turned off on Feb. 18.

Kudos to Mayor Ducey for making the move.

[Gnutella]

Glad somebody else sees it for what it is.

[cpzilliacus]

Glad somebody else sees it for what it is.

I've no problem with automated enforcement when the goal is safety, not revenue - especially revenue for county and municipal governments, or as a surrogate form of commuter tax..

But if the goal was safety, it would seem that such projects would be entirely run by the appropriate law enforcement agency, not by private contractors. 

[jeffandnicole]

Glad somebody else sees it for what it is.

I've no problem with automated enforcement when the goal is safety, not revenue - especially revenue for county and municipal governments, or as a surrogate form of commuter tax..

But if the goal was safety, it would seem that such projects would be entirely run by the appropriate law enforcement agency, not by private contractors. 

Or a program where repeat offenders have their licenses suspended, cars taken off the road, etc.  Instead, the program supports repeat offenders because they are good sources of money.

[dgolub]

Or a program where repeat offenders have their licenses suspended, cars taken off the road, etc.  Instead, the program supports repeat offenders because they are good sources of money.

Part of the reason for this is that there have been cases where the cameras have led to people being falsely accused of running red lights.  There have been cases where they have ticketed people for going through when the light was still green or yellow if they don't get out of the intersection by the time it turns red.  They'd have a lot more lawsuits on their hands if they tried to put points on people's licenses.