Red Light Camera News S.I. Lawmakers Question Use Of Red Light Cameras
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S.I. Lawmakers Question Use Of Red Light Cameras
By: Amanda Farinacci
A study of red light cameras on Staten Island has some local lawmakers questioning whether they're preventing accidents or just raising money for the city
(Note there is a video, please click the link above for it.)
A study of red light cameras on Staten Island has some local lawmakers questioning whether they're preventing accidents or just raising money for the city. NY1's Amanda Farinacci filed the following report.
There are 15 red light cameras on Staten Island, all installed by the Department of Transportation to make accident-prone intersections safer. But residents like Bill Leithauser -- who recently was in an accident when he tried to slow down for a red light -- says that's not what's really happening.
"I knew there was a camera and I saw the light was about to change so when I stopped the guy behind me sped up, thinking that I was going through, and I got rear-ended. So, red light cameras are horrible," said Leithauser.
The DOT won't say specifically where the cameras are, but an analysis comparing the safety records at the 15 intersections for the two years before and the two years after cameras were installed was inconclusive.
In some areas there have been modest improvements to safety, but in other areas more accidents occurred after the cameras were installed. That has City Council members James Oddo and Vincent Ignizio asking why the cameras are really there.
"From day one we believed that this has been about raising money and not about safety. And we have yet to see solid evidence that demonstrates that there's an appreciable increase in safety to Staten Islanders and New Yorkers," said Oddo.
Ignizio is proposing legislation that would require signs to be installed at locations where red light cameras exist to give drivers a heads up.
"In New Jersey you have to display when you have a red light camera so it's not entrapment, so it's not shocking to people, and I think this is the way to go," Ignizio said.
Residents seem to agree, and say increasing the length of the yellow light could also help prevent accidents.
"They should delay it like they do in Jersey. Jersey has a long delay between yellow and red and I think they should adopt that," said Staten Island resident Vito Cassandra.
The DOT says the 15 intersections are just one fifth of one percent of all of the intersections on the Island, so it's hard to measure how effective the cameras really are.
Still, the agency says safety appears to be moving in the right direction.
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