It’s About Public Safety
In Washington state, the fear of a voter initiative has frozen the interest of many cities in installing new red light camera systems. Among its many provisions, Initiative 985 would, if enacted, force municipalities to send all profit from photo tickets to a statewide fund dedicated to congestion relief (view initiative details). The mere prospect of passage appears to have persuaded the cities of Aberdeen and Yakima to drop, for now, plans to install the devices.
I-985 sponsor Tim Eyman suggested that the voter initiative would have the same effect in Washington state that a North Carolina Supreme Court decision had in the Tar Heel state. There, the high court chose to enforce a state constitutional provision directing all ticket revenue out of municipal coffers and into the public school system. After this ruling, Charlotte, Fayetteville, Greenville, Greensboro, High Point and Raleigh shut down their red light camera programs.
No obviously related posts.
Betcha Wilmington, NC’s red light cameras are still up.
It’s wonderful to get a picture of your car being rushed through an intersection and then having to pay a fee to the company that set up the cameras and the city that profits from it. Too bad there wasn’t a cop there to go “oh, you couldn’t stop”.
They started putting these in Chicago a few years back. Guess what the demographics were for the places they started with?