East TN Conservative

“The only thing that increases is the amount of money going from the pockets of drivers into the pockets of the cities and the red light camera companies.”

Municipalities often cite safety as their primary concern in turning to red light cameras. Revenue, however, appears to be the true motivation behind the spike in the installation of red light cameras by Tennessee cities. For example, Kingsport’s revenues from fines soared 347% in the year after installing cameras.

The constitutionally dubious red light camera programs used by numerous cities in Tennessee actually make intersections more dangerous, according to a report issued today by the Tennessee Center for Policy Research.

The report, titled Red Light Cameras in the Volunteer State: Unsafe, Unconstitutional, and Unnecessary, also finds that over half the money collected by cities goes directly to the companies who lobby to provide and service the red light camera systems.

Texas and Virginia have taken the cameras out of service because they have found them to be unnecessary.Simply extending yellow light times by as little as 1/2 to 1 second has solved their problems.

Follow the Money:

The Real Reason While cities claim that safety, deterrence, and cost-
reduction are their ultimate priorities in camera system installations,
revenue statements indicate otherwise. Cities that employ the devices
see a dramatic spike in revenue for traffic violations. Revenues
collected by the City of Kingsport during the 2006 calendar year, just
before camera installation, totaled $342,150 for traffic fines, parking
fines, and code enforcement fines.10 From 2001 to 2006, such fines
ranged from $167,998 to $358,014 per year.11 Traffic cameras were
installed on Dec. 27, 2006. 12 Not surprisingly, fines skyrocketed.
Kingsport collected $1,529,823 in the year after the cameras were
installed, more than four times the revenue from the previous year (see
“Figure 1: Kingsport Fine Collections,” right).

While cameras may reduce T-bone collisions, they actually increase rear-end collisions.

Cities are required to send an average of 63 percent of each fine to the companies that installed the cameras.

Numerous state and federal constitutional issues arise from the use of the cameras, from procedural matters to placing the burden of proof on the defendant rather than the prosecutor.

Simply adjusting the length of a yellow light has been shown to reduce accidents by as much as 40 percent.

Read the full report here