Red Light Camera News Crowd wants red light on camera tickets in Haines City
http://www.newschief.com/article/20110304/NEWS/103045155/1021/news01?p=all&tc=pgall
Crowd wants red light on camera tickets in Haines City
By MARY HURST
News Chief staff
Published: Friday, March 4, 2011 at 6:22 a.m.
Last Modified: Friday, March 4, 2011 at 6:22 a.m.
HAINES CITY - The City Commission listened to the voices of an angry standing-room only crowd Thursday. Their angry boiled out over the number of tickets issued as a result of the installation of red light camera on U.S. 27 and U.S. 17-92.
The commissioners have agreed to meet in a workshop as soon as possible to perhaps modify who will get tickets and who won't. A date for the workshop has not been set.
The statistics surprised commissioners. A data analysis of tickets issued from Jan. 15 through March 3 showed 8,690 tickets were issued from the 10 cameras in operation. Of those, 3,853 were for running straight through a red light.
Commissioners agreed those violators would not get a reprieve. However, they are willing to look at right-turn-on-red violators, for which 4,794 tickets were issued. The other tickets were for such things for left-turn on red.
Haines City resident Jennifer Boyle told commissioners she got a ticket and she had to use a credit card to pay the $158 fine because she delivered mail for a living and was behind on her bills.
"It pierced my heart (when I got the ticket in the mail)," she said. "I was two weeks late on my car payment and I had to buy a refrigerator because my family and I were living out of an ice cooler."
She said when she went to pay her ticket at the police station, she was crying.
"We trusted you all to make good decisions for the people," Boyle said. "Isn't there a way to reconsider doing this to the town's people because it's so wrong."
Others were more blunt. Don Mason questioned whether the commission just wanted to make money from the tickets.
Mayor Horace West said, that for him, installing the cameras was a safety issue. He told the crowd he and his family were hit by someone on U.S. 27, going 85 miles an hour through a red light.
Commissioner Phil Hinkle agreed with West but asked the commission and the city attorney to take another look at the right-on-red issue.
Commissioner Adam Burgess said a considerable disservice was done to people who were ticketed for turning right on red, which "causes no accidents."
City Attorney Thomas Cloud said he thought the commission could amend the ordinance to have an amnesty for those ticketed for right-turn-on-red violations.
In its upcoming workshop, commissioners will also look at better warning signs about the cameras, set further away from the intersection, adding right-turn arrow lights at monitored intersections, and developing a warning rather than ticketing system for violators.
Currently, the revenue from the tickets go into the city's general fund.
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