DOT doubles down on call for more red-light cams

New York City transportation officials continued to push Wednesday to expand the city’s automated red-light enforcement camera program, which is set to expire this year.

“No family should have to experience the pain and loss of a senseless act of traffic violence,” Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez said Wednesday.

Rodriguez called for an expansion of the program while standing at the corner of W. 207th St. and Sherman Ave. in Inwood, where David Fernandez and Joel Adames were killed in 2002 by a driver who sped through a red light.

“New York City should be able to use all available tools to keep New Yorkers safe and prevent crashes like the one that killed David Fernandez and Joel Adames,” he said.

Elizabeth Adames, Joel’s sister, spoke to gathered press and elected officials through tears.

“While we continue to honor their individual legacies, we recognize the most meaningful tribute to them is to address the cause of their untimely deaths,” she said.

“Doing anything less would not only be a disservice to their memory, but a failure to protect our community,” she cried. “We honestly believe that if there had been a red-light camera here, both Joel and David would be alive.”

State law has regarded the city’s red-light camera program as a pilot — a trial run — for all 30 years of its existence. As a result, the program requires regular re-authorizations, and limits the city to automated enforcement at just 150 of the roughly 13,700 intersections with traffic signals citywide.

Rodriguez hopes to push state lawmakers to allow cameras to operate at 1,325 intersections — about 10% of the city’s total.

City officials argue that red-light cameras reduce recidivism — 94% of vehicles issued an automated ticket for running a red last year did not get more than two violations, according to the DOT’s annual report on red-light camera enforcement, released Wednesday.

Citywide, however, 2023 was a record year for fatalities, with 29 people killed by drivers running red lights.

Expanded or not, the existing red light cameras can only function with state lawmakers’ say-so, Rodriguez said.

“Without help from Albany, we will not have any red-light cameras next year,” the commissioner warned.