Lady Lake rejects red-light cameras

BRAD BUCK
Staff Writer
 

LADY LAKE -- No red light cameras for Lady Lake.
Instead, Lady Lake police will probably be more visible at traffic signals around town.
Police Chief Ed Nathanson went on a fact-finding mission to provide commissioners with information about red-light cameras and how they could improve motorists' safety.
Town commissioners Tuesday night voted against buying a red-light camera system to spot motorists who run red lights.
"With or without red light cameras, when an officer observes a vehicle running a red-light, violators will be dealt with accordingly," Nathanson said Thursday in the wake of commissioners' refusal to buy the camera system.

Under the original proposal, Lady Lake would have only paid the red-light camera company, ATS, a portion of the collected fees, Town Manager Kris Kollgaard said Thursday.
With the red-light camera law, the town would have had to pay a flat fee of about $35,000 monthly to the company, regardless of how much the town collected in red light violations, Kollgaard said.
That translates to more than $420,000 a year, and commissioners were concerned about paying that much, she said.
Instead, commissioners decided to address red-light runners by making police officers and patrol cruisers more visible at traffic lights.
"Our main objective is getting people to stop running the red lights, for safety reasons, not for the town to make money on it," Kollgaard said.
A new state law went into effect July 1, authorizing state and local governments to use red-light cameras as a tool to change driver behavior and save lives. The new law sets statewide standards for how governments may use cameras to cite motorists.
Under the law, violators are fined $158, and local and state government divvy up the proceeds. Motorists get a civil infraction rather than a traffic violation, without points tacked onto their licenses. Motorists are notified of the violation when a notification is sent to the vehicle owner.
Not many other cities in Lake County cities are either installing or considering installing red-light cameras.
Earlier this year, the city of Groveland agreed to install cameras at three intersections to catch red-light runners.
Last year, the city of Tavares was considering installing the cameras, but that idea is on the back burner for now, police Chief Stoney Lubins said Thursday. Tavares decided to wait until the state enacted law or the courts settled the legality of red-light cameras.
"Red-light camera companies were coming to us," he said. "It really wasn't a police-driven thing."

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Title
Comment	smaller | bigger
Name
Email
Write the displayed characters
Subscribe via email (registered users only)
	Add Comment Preview