Red Light Camera Update

Red Light Camera Update

From the Pittsburgh Post Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06050/657318.stm

Red-light runners. An insurance firm has ranked the intersection of Grant Avenue and Roosevelt Boulevard in Philadelphia as one of the most dangerous in the country.

Since those cameras that take photos of drivers who run red lights were installed about a year ago, they've recorded a total of 26,198 violations. Wow! Does anybody obey traffic laws in Philadelphia?

Things appear to be improving, according to state Rep. John Perzel, R-Philadelphia, the House majority leader. Between Dec. 23 and Jan. 22, violations dropped 88 percent, to 525, from a monthly high in July.

"It's proof that the program is working," he said of the city's first red-light cameras. Since then, cameras have been installed at two other Philadelphia intersections as part of a Perzel-sponsored pilot program which runs through December 2007.

Look for future legislation to enable other areas of the state, including Pittsburgh, to use the new traffic law enforcement tool.

The red-light cameras are a safety matter, not a money-maker, for Philadelphia. The city parking authority, which sends out the tickets, recoups its operating expenses. The rest of the moola goes to the state for safety programs.