The Red-Light Camera Trip

Red-Light cameras are back in the news today.

There are some who believe that if it might make a few bucks for the City then it is a good thing...the heck with the residents who have to live with lousy decisions, who have to pay for them as well or whether the taxpayers speak out against these ill-conceived ideas or not. Staff always believes that it knows best.

In this case, the Commission took the red-light camera "trip" and made the right decision to reject the entire idea. Palm Springs put in three of them: Congress and Forrest Hill, 10th Ave North and Lake Worth Road. To date, Palm Springs has lost money but the Mayor there still insists that red-light cameras are a good thing for safety--only time will tell. One thing that we do know is it lets the police off the hook for more serious issues (the Sheriff keeps telling us that crime is down) and relegates traffic tickets to technology.

If you recall, American Traffic Solutions' sales pitch was that it was for "safety" purposes. In West Palm Beach, they have had more rear-end accidents than they had without red-light cameras. Even Lois Frankel says, "I personally do not like the cameras."

The only entity that is guaranteed to make any money is the red-light camera company. Darrian Dority and Jennifer Marchal of the Finance Advisory Board understood that when they voted "no" on approval of the red-light cameras in Lake Worth. American Traffic Solutions wanted Lake Worth to pay them $298,997 a year for 5 cameras. The City estimated that we would receive $100,000 revenue per year...no guarantee of making money and no guarantee of making our intersections more safe.