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Florida Attorney General Says No to Red Light Cameras
Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist issued a warning on Tuesday to the city of Pembroke Pines, saying it would be "unlawful" for it to issue red light camera tickets without the sanction of the state legislature.
A handful of cities in Florida have been lobbying for red light camera-enabling law in the state legislature, but these efforts have failed. In February, the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives said that legislation that would make photo enforcement legal in the state was, "dead on arrival." The president of the Florida Senate said of the cameras, "It's all about profits, under the guise of public safety."
Seeing the opposition of the legislature, Pembroke Pines sought a legal opinion of whether it could install the devices under its municipal authority. The attorney general said the cameras could be installed, but no ticket could be issued. Current law, according to Crist, requires "an officer enforcing the traffic law personally observe or have personal knowledge of the particular infraction that serves as the basis for issuing the citation."
Florida Cities Exploit Legal Loophole For Financial Gain
Armed with a loophole in state law that was first exploited by the tiny Panhandle town of Gulf Breeze, dozens of Florida cities and towns are rushing to adopt new local ordinances that will allow them to install cameras at intersections and snap images of license plates when vehicles run red lights.
A perfect storm has arisen for the camera vendors. The driving public is fed up with the chaos on today’s roads. Red-light running is rampant — and not just in South Florida.
The state, citing legitimate engineering, public safety and privacy concerns, refuses to adopt the cameras.
So the vendors, armed with well-connected experts and lobbyists, have turned to the cash-starved municipalities with a pitch that few elected officials can resist:
“We’ll give you the cameras for free! The city keeps the lion’s share of the revenue! And you’ll be a hero to your frustrated constituents!”
So the cities and towns dig deeper into the public’s collective pocket, the vendors skimming a percentage of the gross.
Red-light Cameras Increase Crashes, Florida Researchers Find
“The rigorous studies clearly show red-light cameras don’t work,” said lead author Barbara Langland-Orban, professor and chair of health policy and management at the USF College of Public Health.
“Instead, they increase crashes and injuries as drivers attempt to abruptly stop at camera intersections. If used in Florida, cameras could potentially create even worse outcomes due to the state’s high percent of elderly who are more likely to be injured or killed when a crash occurs.”
Stark Law
Physician self-referral is the practice of a physician referring a patient to a medical facility in which he has a financial interest, be it ownership, investment, or a structured compensation arrangement. Critics of the practice allege an inherent conflict of interest, given the physician's position to benefit from the referral.
Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist issued a warning on Tuesday to the city of Pembroke Pines, saying it would be "unlawful" for it to issue red light camera tickets without the sanction of the state legislature.
A handful of cities in Florida have been lobbying for red light camera-enabling law in the state legislature, but these efforts have failed. In February, the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives said that legislation that would make photo enforcement legal in the state was, "dead on arrival." The president of the Florida Senate said of the cameras, "It's all about profits, under the guise of public safety."
Originally posted by IronDogg
It doesn't happen anymore. I don't know if they increased the yellow light on-time, or if people just got used to slowing down and stopping when it turns yellow, instead of flooring it to get through before it hits red for too long. Either way, I believe in the long run it makes that intersection safer, even if the only reason for that is that the local residents know the camera is there, and consciously slow down and stop when it turns yellow-red now, instead of rushing through and getting a $275.00 fine in the mail.
Originally posted by IronDogg
To be honest, if it makes an intersection safer (and I don't know for sure if it does, I just believe it does having seeing the long term affect on a major intersection where I live).
Originally posted by IronDogg
Think of the income a City could generate if there was a camera on every major intersection in town. Surely that would be the end of property tax increases year after year?
Originally posted by IronDogg
Same with photo radar... they should be all over town. Every school zone and even playground zones should have photo radar on them. With the hefty fines they mail to speeders, it is simply a luxury tax for utilizing your will to endanger the lives of others.
Originally posted by IronDogg
Its everyone's choice to speed and run red lights, but did the victim or their families have any say in the matter? Maybe the the cash cow collections of a major city having red light cameras on every intersection (1000's of cameras) could pay for the medical and death insurance of others who were hit by speeders and lightrunners?
Originally posted by IronDogg
Regarding your right hand turn incident... Did you actually stop completely before the line, then proceed around the corner, or did you "run the red light" by coming to a "rolling-stop" before you continued to drive around the corner at 2 mph? Because that makes a difference...