MORE CRASH, MORE CASH AT RED LIGHT CAMERA INTERSECTIONS

ALMOST $5 MILLION IN PISCATAWAY

By John Day, WatchDogWire

Piscataway’s red light camera program closed out March issuing more tickets than the township’s total population, while also nearing the $5-million mark in total fines issued. Those projections are based on an internal, township document obtained through New Jersey’s Open Public Records Act (OPRA).

The internal document, titled “Township of Piscataway: Monthly Analysis of Red Light Camera,” chronicles by month the number of citations, revenue produced, and recipients of the cameras’ cash. In its first 27 months of operation, November 2011 through February 2014, Piscataway’s photo-ticketing program produced a total of 55,396 citations and $4,710,415 in ticket revenue.

Citation revenue from Piscataway’s red light cameras is divvied between several recipients. Through February 2014, Piscataway Township has received about 32% of the program’s total revenue, amounting to $1,527,146.  Same period earnings for Piscataway’s photo-ticket vendor American Traffic Solutions (ATS) was $2,153,908, 46% of the proceeds. The State of New Jersey and Middlesex County received 22% of the haul, at $637,054 and $392,811 respectively.

Crash Data Revealed

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Support for red-light cameras declines in NJ, poll by AAA finds

Support for red-light cameras declines in NJ, poll by AAA finds (via NJ.com)

The more New Jersey motorists nabbed by red-light cameras, the less support the automated traffic cops have in the state, a poll by AAA has found. In 2007, before the cameras were installed at intersections across New Jersey, 77 percent of those surveyed…

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O’Scanlon: Red Light Cameras Sacrifice Safety For Revenue

Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon and Attorney Joseph Santoli presenting Red Light Camera findings in Tinton Falls this morning.

In a scathing indictment of Red Light Camera (RLC) operators and the New Jersey municipalities that deploy the devices, Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon today revealed what he described as “irrefutable evidence” that  yellow light times at many New Jersey intersections do not meet the standards required by law, causing thousands of motorist to be hit with millions of dollars in unlawful fines.

Backed up by Barnet Fagel, a traffic expert with the National Motorists Association and Attorney Joseph Santoli who discovered in a New York case that RLC companies were shaving yellow light times in order to entrap drivers into being caught on camera running a red, O’Scanlon said that shortened yellow lights cause more accidents and that “safety is being sacrificed” for municipal and RCL company’s revenue.

Yellow lights are required to have either 3 or 4 second intervals, depending on the level of traffic and speed at the intersections.  Fagel conducted a study this weekend of 12 of the approximately 80 New Jersey RLC intersections.  All but “one or two” were found to have yellow lights that were between 1/10 and almost 3/10 of a second too short. Fagel presented the video evidence of his finding.

The most egregious of Fagel’s findings was in Jersey City at the intersection of Rt.1-9 and Sip Ave, a 4 second yellow light location.  Fagel’s video showed that the yellow light lasted only 3.753 seconds.

JERSEY CITY-SIP – 1-9 from Barnet Fagel on Vimeo.

O’Scanlon said that 80% of all RLC infractions occur during the first second of the red light. By shaving 1/10-3/10 of a second off the yellow lights, roughly 30% of the RLC generated tickets are unlawful.

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