Doral red light cameras going away
MIAMI - To reduce speed, educate drivers and punish the ones who run red lights, was the motivation for installing red light cameras in Doral.
"Starting June 20th, that is ending," said Rafael Pineiro, Vice Mayor of the City of Doral. He said the decision stemmed from comparing intersections like the one on N.W. 87th Avenue and 25th Street, which has no cameras to ones that did, like the one on N.W. 79th Avenue and 36th Street. The latter is one of four intersections on the city's website as the busiest and with most accidents.
"We have more car accidents at these 4 intersections than any other intersection in the city," said Pineiro. "A lot of the drivers before they we were passing these intersections, they were scared every time they get the yellow light before the red one they used to stop the car suddenly, drivers coming behind did not have the time to stop."
Last month, Vice Mayor Pineiro sent a memo to the city councils saying, "Many studies have shown that red light cameras increase the number of rear-end collisions not to mention, these intersections have heavy traffic and a short time frame on left-turn signals."
According to Pineiro, the majority of the council approved the repeal of the program.
"That's a great idea, I think we should keep that up because mistakes happen," said Don Green at the intersection of N.W. 97th Avenue and 36th Street.
Alan Casas, who frequently drives on 36th Street said, "Sometimes, it's very unfair you get a ticket here, you get another ticket over there, by the end of the day, you spent all your salary on tickets."
However, Jonathan Torres who lives in Doral disagrees, "because many people disregard traffic lights, I liked the cameras issuing tickets."
CBS News Miami's Ivan Taylor asked Vice Mayor Pineira how much money the city was getting from red light camera citations?
"Only last year, we received over $600,000," responded Pineiro. He also mentioned that residents considered far more effective ways to increase the number of police officers in the city rather than only having cameras.
According to him, the city council agreed. "Cameras will continue in Doral, we need them for many other purposes, but not citations," said Vice Mayor Pineiro.
