Expand, don't ban, use of red light cameras

When I came to my present Manatee County, Fla., address 23 years ago, State Road 70 from Interstate 75 to Bradenton was two lanes with little traffic and few "improvements" like shopping centers and housing developments.

Today, it is four to six lanes plus dedicated lanes for turns. The scarce vacant space is filling rapidly, and SR 70 is almost a parking lot at times. It often takes 45 or more minutes to travel the five or six miles of SR 70.

When you quote statistics that seem to indicate a higher percentage of accidents due to red light cameras, do you factor in the increased traffic? The increased frustration and impatience of the drivers?

The red light cameras are not causing the accidents; overdevelopment is a major contributor.

Accidents will continue to increase, with or without the cameras. Manatee County has thousands of homes under construction or approved for construction, which will add thousands more cars to the already gridlocked highways.

I support keeping and expanding red light cameras.

Roger A. Horein

Sarasota

This story was originally published February 10, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Expand, don't ban, use of red light cameras ."