Booker ♥ Red Light Cameras

O’Scanlon gathers 4,000 signatures to stop Red Light Cameras in only two weeks

The City of Newark is ripping off motorists with Red Light Cameras and Cory Booker loves the revenue.

Newark announced yesterday that the seven intersections in the city that have RLCs have seen a 64% decline in accidents since the cameras were installed four years ago, according the a report in The Star Ledger.

But Newark did not disclose the number of accidents at the intersection before or after the installations of the RLCs, which could make the percentages meaningless. A Newark spokesman declined to elaborate. Additionally, Newark has 19 intersections with RLC’s. Their news release touted the results of only 7 intersections.

Booker said,

“Since their installation four years ago, our city’s red light cameras have been an effective mechanism in significantly reducing auto accidents at busy intersections,” Booker, a candidate for U.S. Senate in next month’s special election, said in a statement. “The investment in this technology has made our residents safer and served as a strong deterrent for people who may otherwise consider breaking traffic laws.”

Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon (R-Monmouth), the state’s leading advocate against the Red Light Rip-offs called Newark’s press release disingenuous.

Upon learning of their city’s bogus report hailing the success of RLCs, a group of residents gathered under a light, looked in the camera and started chanting, “We don’t want you here, We don’t want you here!”

Just kidding. Those guys were really heckling GOP nominee for U.S. Senate Steve Lonegan yesterday outside of Booker’s former abandoned property.

DOT Regulations require that yellow lights last either 3 or 4 seconds depending on the level of traffic at the intersections. O’Scanlon commissioned a study that demonstrated that intersections with RLCs have shorter than required yellow light times. Included in O’Scanlon’s study was the intersection of Market Street and Raymond Blvd in Newark, a 4 second intersection with a light that changes after 3.872 seconds.

NEWARK-MARKET-RAYMOND from Barnet Fagel on Vimeo.

Public support to kill New Jersey’s Red Light Camera program is growing. O’Scanlon started an online petition two weeks ago that has already gathered 4,000 signatures.

“My campaign to stop the red-light camera programmed has received some incredible support from the public,” said O’Scanlon. “The office was flooded with calls, but it seemed that some folks felt there really wasn’t a vocal outcry to end this failing program. That was why I started this petition and now we have over 4000 people signed up – unlike the red-light camera companies, our numbers don’t lie.”

“I think it is fortuitous that, on the heels of Newark’s disingenuous press release claiming that the cameras have significantly decreased accident rates, we reach this hallmark with our petition,” O’Scanlon explained. “The facts are simple: red-light cameras do not improve safety, they are revenue generators and the public is tired of being fleeced. The more signatures we compile, the harder it will be to ignore us. We are not going away, and our effort will not be dismissed as a few people making noise.”

O’Scanlon’s petition has only been up for two weeks, it can be found at: http://www.change.org/petitions/new-jersey-department-of-transportation-end-the-red-light-camera-program-in-nj