(Note:  The county can claim this was a "oversight" all they want.  This is the Third PLACE IN FLORIDA where RLC operations by have been found to HAVE SHORT AMBERS)

www.abc-7.com/Global/story.asp

Math tutor uses numbers to fight red light camera ticket

Posted: Apr 06, 2010 5:24 PM EDT Updated: Apr 06, 2010 6:16 PM EDT
 
COLLIER COUNTY: A woman was caught on camera running a red in Collier County. But after her husband fought the ticket, it was thrown out. Now officials say there may be other drivers who were wrongly ticketed as well.

About 28,000 drivers have been caught on camera running a red light in less than a year. The excuses range from bad weather to not wanting to be rear-ended. But Collier driver Mike Mogil claims the yellow lights are simply too short. And as it turns out, he's right.

Armed with a stopwatch, Mogil may be driving a hole in the credibility of Collier County's red light camera system.

"If the county, they are not going to follow their own rules, then why should we be required to follow the rules?" he asked.

When his wife received a ticket in the mail recently, the first thing she said was the yellow light was too short.

So Mike, who works with numbers all the time as a math tutor, put it to the test.

"I said, ‘If it's really short, then you got short-changed and you got a ticket illegally,'" said Mogil.

The speed limit on Collier Boulevard, where she was cited, is 45 mph. According to county guidelines, the yellow light should be 4.5 seconds.

Mogil said he tested it 15 times with an average of only 3.8 seconds.

"And I said, ‘We've got a problem,'" he said.

He challenged the ticket Monday and a special magistrate dropped it when the county conceded the yellow wasn't long enough.

"I think it was an oversight more than anything," said Gene Calvert of the Collier County Transportation Department.

The county has already fixed the Collier Boulevard light, and says it will check 200 other intersections to make sure they meet the standard.

NBC2: Do you think there are other lights that may not be timed correctly?
Calvert: I doubt it very seriously, but I will be looking into it.

But Mogil says he's already checked 65 intersections and found that only seven yellow lights are long enough.

"There's a much, much bigger issue here and it has to be addressed," he said.

The county says it will be checking the intersections with red light cameras first.

They encourage anyone who thinks they may have gotten a ticket incorrectly to challenge it, just as Mogil did.


 

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