Florida Traffic Law

By now we are all aware of Red Light Cameras. They were implemented under the guise of "Safety." We have heard about them, we have seen them, and some of us have been caught by them. It, like most politics of today, has divided us. You have the people that are protesting with signs against them and you have the opinion letter writers posting their thoughts for them in local papers. The question isn't whether they are effective - they are, to the tune of millions of dollars being sucked out of our local economies and being sent to companies located in New York or Arizona. The real question is why they are so effective. Do That Many People Really Run Red Lights With the astronomical revenue being generated by Red Light Cameras it is easy to protest and easy to applaud them. The protesters see the cameras as governmental hands reaching into our pockets and taking our money. The pro-camera types look at the numbers generated and think everyone of those cited deserve it...

This post deals with the Red Light Camera statute, s. 316.0083, Fla. Stat., better known as the Mark Wandall Traffic Safety Program Act. Mark Wandall was a victim of a red light runner. His tragic story has since been manipulated by our legislators and local representatives into a cash grab whereby safety is no longer the goal. In fact, safety has been completely overlooked and abandoned, evidenced by the discovery that yellow light times have been trimmed to dangerous levels in order to boost the profits from red light cameras. But I digress... One of the peculiarities of the statute is the decision to cite the first named owner on the registration of a vehicle when there are multiple owners. Since the driver of the car is never viewed by the cameras (a strange requirement of the law) it just puts blame on the owner of the vehicle. If there is more than one owner the first named gets cited. There is no explanation for why the statute does this except the argument by the state that i...

Lately, there has been some push-back on red light cameras in Florida. Two high ranking legislators want Florida to join 13 other states that ban camera enforcement. This comes after a Tampa Television News channel discovered that the state had, without comment, sneakily reduced the yellow light times to the minimum allowed by a new modified law. (See Noah Pransky).  Well get ready. These camera companies are about to out spend everyone to convince legislators to keep the cameras. They call it "educating" the representatives. It is actually large donations to re-election campaign funds.  The stronger the resistance the stronger the municipalities will argue for the cameras to stay. Why not - they are making millions. That would not be so bad if the municipalities were in business. They aren't - they represent us. Apparently, they believe we want them to pick our pockets.  90% of red light cameras come from cars that miss the light by less than half a second. A fraction...

I unfortunately cannot answer all questions regarding Red Light Camera questions over the phone. Instead I'll ask everyone to ask the questions below in the comments' section. This way those with similar questions may find their question already answered.  Thank you.

Orlando's "Stops" program. A Red Light Camera program still using unauthorized signage. Red Light Cameras are here to stay. If you don't like that it's too bad - get use to them. There is way too much money coming from them (because people continue to run them) for any municipality to give them up. Upset, disgusted, mad? Good. Now let's talk about fixing the problems faced by the municipalities. When these Red Light Camera companies came to Florida to peddle their wares it was like a dream come true for the cities and towns under the budget crunch from the "great recession." The Red Light Camera companies came to them promising them millions so it was no surprise that the bureaucrats, politicians, and accountants looked past all the legalities straight to the bottom line. Before anyone thought to look towards consequences we had major cities contracting with these companies to throw up the first of many red light cameras.  All seemed well a...

City of Orlando Red Light Camera intersection. Orange County Red Light Camera Contract What they don't want you to know... Orange County and American Traffic Solutions [ATS] have a contractual relationship involving the Red Light Cameras that we see popping up everywhere (for Orange County, it only involves those cameras in Orange County and outside of the cities). We have been told by our leaders (a/k/a politicians) that these cameras are for "our" safety. The reality is that the contract between Orange County and ATS is very lucrative for both parties. Read the contract here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/106485947 Eric J Dirga More information at Eric J Dirga, PA website .