Red-light camera goes online at 10th county intersection

Running the red light while heading south at the intersection at 53rd Avenue West and U.S. 41 will be costly as Manatee County’s 10th red-light camera became activated Friday.

After a month-long warning period, which ended Thursday, motorists could receive a $158 fine for running that red light.

“The intent is to provide some type of warning to residents or to individuals that frequent that intersection to let them know there is a traffic device there for detecting red-light runners,” said Jeff Bowman, the county’s code enforcement chief. “We get it out there so everybody is aware.”

In 2009, the county originally was going to enter into a contract with its vendor, Xerox State & Local Solutions, Inc., but the deal was placed on hold because of pending state legislation, Bowman said. The contract was approved in 2012 and enforcement began that September.

Each month, Manatee County pays $4,650 per camera to Xerox. From October 2015 to September 2016, the red-light cameras have generated $266,180.83 in revenue after expenses for the county.

The terms of the contract, which goes through next September, call for 10 cameras — four were installed in 2012, four in 2013, one in January 2016 and the last one in September. The contract has two options to extend for five years for a total of 15 years.

“You have to go through permitting and all that stuff so that takes time,” Bowman said. “We identified the top 10 intersections that have the most accidents, the most dangerous intersections and those 10 are the ones that we installed red light devices.”

In addition to the 10 cameras in unincorporated Manatee, the city of Bradenton has cameras at seven intersections. But the city council voted in August to suspend their use until they are able to hire a new vendor.

Number of crashes

Between July 1, 2014, and June 30, 2015, Manatee County issued 9,970 notices of violation to red-light runners at the eight operational red-light cameras, according to a red-light camera report completed by Manatee County and submitted to Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles on Sept. 30, 2015.

Of those notices of violation issued, 7,630 were paid, according to the report. Many of the others were contested and either pending, dismissed or upheld.

“The camera footage is viewed by a sworn law enforcement officer employed by the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office,” the report states. “If the deputy reviewing the footage feels they would ticket the violation if they were in person at the light, then they make the determination to ticket the violation from the camera.”

The change in the number of crashes is what is used to “determine the success/failure of each camera location,” the report states.

The state highway department’s red-light camera summary report for fiscal year 2014-15 shows Manatee County had a 9 percent increase in total crashes after red-light cameras were implemented and an 11.36 percent increase in rear-end accidents after the implementation.

During this period statewide, there was a 14.65 percent increase in total crashes after red-light cameras were installed.

In Manatee County, red-light camera video has also been used to investigate other crimes such as “traffic crashes involving injuries and homicides for timeline and suspect identification,” the county’s report states.

“Yes, it has value,” Bowman said. “The number of red-light runners has gone down drastically.”

Some differ on benefits of red-light cameras

Whether red-light cameras curb accidents rather than just being a revenue source for local jurisdictions has been highly debated.

Red-light cameras have also spurred plenty of legal challenges. Most recently, in September, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, which includes Florida, denied a ticket refund request worth more than $200 million from motorists wanting their money back after paying red-light camera tickets.

For Melissa Wandall, who lost her husband nearly 13 years ago when he was hit by a red-light runner, red-light cameras “retrain the brain on how to stop again.”

“The red-light safety cameras, to me, are not only for the victims but they are for the violators, because you want them to understand what they are doing can take a life in a moment,” she said. “At the end of the day, you don’t want these victims and you don’t want these violators.”

There is a misconception that the vendor picks the intersection, Wandall said.

“I think red-light safety cameras should only be at intersections that warrant them,” she said. “If that’s having more or having less, I really believe that’s up to law enforcement.”

But for the National Motorists Association, which is opposed to the cameras, they don’t improve safety, contends Sheila Dunn, the association’s communications director.

“People are notorious for trying to stop as soon as the yellow starts, and that causes rear-end collisions, for example, or they try to race through and don’t make it,” she said. “It tends to be more a money grab. It is basically taxation by citation.”

With red-light cameras, there is no due process, Dunn said.

“It is just based on your license plate,” she said. “Not all the time you can identify who is driving the car.”

If cameras weren’t doing what they were designed to do, Wandall said she would want her husband’s name “stripped off” the Mark Wandall Traffic Safety Act.

“They are not trying to catch someone trying to do something wrong,” she said. “We are merely trying to save lives.”

This story was originally published October 1, 2016 at 10:00 AM with the headline "Red-light camera goes online at 10th county intersection."