Red Light Cameras

As City Council moves toward approving red-light cameras near City Hall, drivers have been raising questions and concerns. "What if I run a yellow light and the light turns red while I am in the intersection?" asked Steve Moritz, 50, a business analyst from Somerdale. And what happens if a funeral procession is snapped rolling past a red-light camera? "Are you still going to be responsible for those tickets?" asked Marlo Freeman, 38, of Mount Airy. Those questions arose after cameras at three intersections were activated this month.

THE WAY is now paved for the city to be the first in Pennsylvania to install red-light cameras, which have the potential to save lives and reduce serious injuries. Right-angle intersection crashes, most often the result of red-light violations, are the largest cause of serious-injury crashes in urban areas. Cameras are a deterrent to red-light runners, and they provide 24-hour coverage. They don't call in sick, take vacations or get called away for another emergency. But cameras shouldn't replace police, who remain the greatest deterrent.

Philadelphia's red-light cameras have proved to be a big adjustment for drivers. Any project that affects so many people on a daily basis is bound to raise questions. But it's important to remember that the cameras are there to make Philadelphia's most dangerous intersections safer for drivers and pedestrians. The program isn't a rigid, inflexible burden for Philadelphia drivers. It's a thoughtful effort to make our city's streets safer to drive in and walk across. The cameras automatically photograph vehicles that run red lights, whereupon citations may be mailed to the vehicles' owners.

Three more intersections in Northeast Philadelphia will get red-light cameras Friday, bringing to 24 the number of city intersections with the devices. The new lights will be activated Friday morning at Grant Avenue and Academy Road, Woodhaven and Knights Roads, and Bustleton Avenue and Byberry Road. After a 60-day grace period, during which drivers will get warning notices if they run a red light, motorists will be fined $100 if they are caught on camera running a red light. The grace period will end Dec. 18. - Paul Nussbaum

It would have been hard to imagine, 20 years ago, that parts of Aramingo Avenue lined with industrial brownfields and vacant lots might ever be a thriving shopping district. But on Saturday, Philadelphia will officially recognize the avenue's commercial vitality by training the latest red-light cameras on its two busiest intersections. The cameras, which identify vehicles passing illegally through stoplights, will activate at 12:01 a.m. New Year's Day at Aramingo and York Street and two miles north at Aramingo and Castor Avenue.

Don't look for any smiling poses among the motorists captured on the traffic-enforcement version of Candid Camera coming soon to Philadelphia. Over the next few months, red-light cameras will be installed at several of the city's most dangerous intersections. The first lenses will be trained upon the often-deadly crossroads at Roosevelt Boulevard and Grant Avenue in Northeast Philadelphia. Little reason to smile about that, right? After all, getting your picture snapped while running a red light will bring a fine of $100.

In a matter of days, hundreds of Philadelphia motorists have proved they're richly deserving of the city's crackdown on red-light running along Roosevelt Boulevard. That's how many drivers - hundreds, and counting - ignored the six red-light cameras set up at Grant Avenue and the boulevard. On the first day the cameras operated, drivers sped through the red at the rate of nearly 11 an hour. The second day, even more ran the light. So it looks like city officials picked the right spot to inaugurate the first of several red-light camera traps.

AN OBSCURE legislative provision engineered by House Speaker John Perzel gives one of his campaign contributors a leg up on running the city's lucrative red-light traffic camera system. The company, Affiliated Computer Services of Dallas, already receives $8 million a year for data processing services at the Perzel-controlled Philadelphia Parking Authority. Now, the politically active firm stands to boost those revenues substantially, thanks to six words inserted in the state law that legalized the traffic surveillance cameras in Philadelphia.

Red-light cameras have mixed results in their brief history in New Jersey, with rear-end crashes up at camera-equipped intersections and right-angle crashes down, according to data gathered by the state Transportation Department. The Christie administration said Thursday it would permit no new installations of red-light cameras because the pilot program that began using them in 2009 will end next year. Red-light cameras have been controversial in New Jersey, Philadelphia, and elsewhere in the country.

Motorists who got $85 tickets from red-light cameras deserve a refund, says a Marlton lawyer who is challenging the cameras in court. Joseph A. Osefchen filed a class-action lawsuit Friday in Superior Court against Cherry Hill Township, and said he planned to file similar suits next week against Monroe Township and Glassboro, which also operate red-light cameras. The Cherry Hill suit, brought on behalf of two motorists who paid $85 each after receiving tickets generated by cameras at Springdale Road and Route 70, contends that the township has not conducted required inspections and certifications of the traffic signals, and cameras.

Red-light cameras have mixed results in their brief history in New Jersey, with rear-end crashes up at camera-equipped intersections and right-angle crashes down, according to data gathered by the state Transportation Department. The Christie administration said Thursday it would permit no new installations of red-light cameras because the pilot program that began using them in 2009 will end next year. Red-light cameras have been controversial in New Jersey, Philadelphia, and elsewhere in the country.

Philadelphia's red-light cameras continue to provide millions for road projects around the state, but less of the money is coming back to the city. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation announced Friday that cameras at 21 intersections in Philadelphia generated $4.7 million last year after expenses, but only $1.5 million will be used for Philadelphia road projects. The rest will be distributed around the state. Until now, Philadelphia received half of the revenue from its red-light cameras.

A Camden woman was charged Wednesday with murder in the May 29 shooting of Samaze Chambliss, 20, also of Camden, according to the Camden County Prosecutor's Office. Shanece Kearney, 22, is accused of shooting Chambliss multiple times on May 29 on the 1200 block of Princess Avenue. Chambliss was pronounced dead at Cooper University Hospital. Kearney is to be arraigned Thursday before Superior Court Judge Thomas Brown.    - Jane M. Von Bergen   Man charged with murder in drowning An Eastampton man was charged with murder in the drowning of a Mount Holly man in December, the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office said Wednesday.

NEWARK, N.J. - Close to a half-million New Jersey motorists who have been ticketed due to red-light cameras could be eligible for a partial refund under the terms of a class-action settlement announced Friday. The $4.2 million settlement works out to a refund of $6 to $10 on tickets ranging from $85 to $140, the Newark Star-Ledger reported. - AP

Three more intersections in Northeast Philadelphia will get red-light cameras Friday, bringing to 24 the number of city intersections with the devices. The new lights will be activated Friday morning at Grant Avenue and Academy Road, Woodhaven and Knights Roads, and Bustleton Avenue and Byberry Road. After a 60-day grace period, during which drivers will get warning notices if they run a red light, motorists will be fined $100 if they are caught on camera running a red light. The grace period will end Dec. 18. - Paul Nussbaum

Light cameras The letter "Red-light cameras saving lives" (July 23) by the director of the Philadelphia Parking Authority states that red-light cameras are solely used for traffic safety. This is pure bunk because study after study has proven that adding one second to the yellow-light cycle time greatly reduces accidents. Where this has occurred, red-light violations go way down, accidents decrease, and the profit margins for the camera companies are not sufficient for maintaining them.

The Philadelphia Parking Authority will refund about $800,000 in red-light-camera fines issued between Feb. 11 and April 13 at the intersection of Island Avenue and Lindbergh Boulevard in the Eastwick section of Philadelphia. The agency said Friday that refunds are necessary because the PPA failed to post the required warning signs at the intersection when the cameras were first installed. The warning signs were not posted until Feb. 13, which triggered a required 60-day warning period before $100 fines could legally be issued.