Orlando to add more red light cameras
ORLANDO, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - The City of Orlando will add red light cameras at seven more intersections this year, according to deputy transportation director F.J. Flynn.
The cameras will be installed, even though the city’s contract with American Traffic Solutions, the red light camera company said, “the city shall not be entitled to install new or relocated cameras after December 31, 2016.”
Flynn said the yet-to-be installed cameras are grandfathered into the contract and the city is waiting on for the locations to be approved by the department of transportation. There are currently red light cameras at twenty-one Orlando intersections. Flynn said the ones that are already in place are working.
“Of the folks that get that notice of violation, 91 percent of those do not get a second violation. So we’re impacting user and driver behavior, we feel,” he said.
There’s legislation in Tallahassee right now that could ban red light cameras statewide, and lawsuits have ground programs to a stop in some parts of the state. Stephen Facella has been fighting a red light camera ticket he got in Orange County for more than 15 months.
“It’s beyond unfair. I almost want to say it’s predatory,” Facella said, explaining that his case stemmed from the process by which drivers can appeal their tickets.
He testified in favor of the legislation that would repeal the Florida’s red light camera law.
“The legislature needs to completely repeal the red light program in the entire state of Florida,” he said.
Until they do, Orlando drivers who run a red light can expect to be caught on cameras.
“We’ll continue to run the program the way we’ve been running the program, which is focused more on safety and then we’ll continue to monitor what happens in Tallahassee,” Flynn said.