PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Thousands of people have been ticketed for speeding on Roosevelt Boulevard through the use of red light cameras. Lawmakers in New Jersey are working to prevent those tickets from being mailed to drivers in the Garden State.
When drivers get clocked going too fast or running a red light by government-owned road cameras, the company that manages the cameras relies on state motor vehicle offices to provide information about the registered owner of the car.
The proposed bill would prohibit the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission from sharing personal information with the companies that manage the cameras, including offenders’ addresses. This, in turn, would prevent New Jersey residents from getting tickets mailed to them.
Essentially, the state would be saying “I’ve got your back” with the bill that has advanced through committees in both houses of the New Jersey Legislature.
“If they can’t get the information, there’s no ticket issued in the first place,” said the bill’s sponsor, State Sen. Declan O'Scanlon, R-Holmdel.
“There is no reason why our systems should be complicit in other states that do employ these systems of government-sanctioned theft.”
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The Philadelphia Parking Authority said that the Pennsylvania State Legislature enacted the red light camera program in 2005 after a report showed numerous intersections on Roosevelt Boulevard were among the most dangerous in the U.S.
PPA said that since fiscal year 2008, the red light program has created more than $105 million for Pennsylvania Department of Transportation safety grants.
O'Scanlon said red light cameras and speed cameras are nothing more than “money grabs,” systems designed to create cash for municipalities, and he’s had enough of it.
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“The premise of these systems is that they provide safety, and that’s how these companies sell them. The problem is that’s not true,” O’Scanlon said.
“If you were to increase your yellow light time by half a second, you would dramatically reduce infractions. That is obviously not the system operator’s goal. Their goal is to write as many tickets as possible.”
But the PPA says that violations have decreased at most intersections since the installation of such cameras.
A PPA report for fiscal 2021 studied 30 red light cameras that had been installed in Philadelphia for at least two complete years. The report said that the total number of violations at 21 of those cameras was fewer in 2020 than the first full year after the camera’s installation.
Other data from the PPA shows speeding is down 91.4% from summer 2020 to fall 2021. Crashes and fatalities are down as well on Roosevelt Boulevard since speed cameras were installed. A PPA spokesman said the numbers speak for themselves.
New Jersey Senate President Nick Scutari, D-Clark, has signed on as a co-sponsor of the bill. No date has been established for when it will be brought up for a vote.