State’s red-light camera law might face repeal this year

With crashes at intersections that have red-light cameras on the rise, lawmakers could repeal the state’s red-light camera law entirely.

An early step in what legislators will do about the controversial law took place Wednesday when House members who sit on the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee heard an overview of the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles report that found crashes at intersections with red-light cameras rose 10 percent in 2015.

That same committee will be the first to hear a proposed repeal of the state law that legalized red-light cameras in 2010.

But the report on increased crashes also found pedestrianinvolved accidents dropped nearly 20 percent, and state representatives were unsure how to take the overall results.

“We don’t know whether they’ve made or to what to degree they’ve made these intersections safer,” said state Rep. Kristin Creek.

The next time this committee discusses the law could be whether to repeal it. State Rep. Bryan Avila, R-Hialeah, has proposed repealing the law, and state Sen. Frank Artiles, R-Miami, has filed a similar measure.

The legality of the law is in question, with conflicting rulings in state appeals courts requiring a review by the Florida Supreme Court. A federal classaction suit demanding the return of fines paid by motorists under the potentially illegal law is on hold pending that review. And with all the legal uncertainty, more and more cities are choosing to end their red-light camera programs.

According to the report, the number of cameras in use in Florida dropped to 688 in 2015, down more than a hundred cameras from the year before.

Despite that, the number of citations issued has actually risen even as the number of redlight cameras has declined. Artiles and other critics call this evidence that the cameras are a revenue-generating system. Jacobs, D-Coconut