NJ Putting The Brakes On Red Light Cameras, But Not All Officials Want The Cameras To Go
By Cleve Bryan
GLOUCESTER Twp., NJ (CBS) -- Call it an accident-averter or a cash-cow, New Jersey's red light camera pilot program will come to an end December 16th.
"I think it would benefit if they didn't keep them around anymore," says Alaina Julia from Gloucester Township who received a citation in the mail recently.
Twenty-four municipalities participated in the program issuing hundreds of thousands of citations over the years and collecting millions of dollars in fines.
At the program's peak in 2011, Gloucester Township issued 21,549 citations with its ten cameras and netted about a million dollars.
Township safety officials say the real benefit was the reduction in accidents with a 46 percent decrease in collisions at the camera-enforced intersections.
"People are driving differently, they're driving safer," says Chief Harry Earle of the Gloucester Township Police Department.
Earle says discontinuing the red light camera program means less accountability on the roads.
"We're going to have to make up that difference. I mean obviously there were violations at those intersections which affect the safety of people and we'll need to police that," says Earle.
New Jersey Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon lead the charge to drop the five-year program when it sunsets next month and fellow legislators don't see that changing.
"The program is nothing more than government sanctioned theft. As of December 16th the program will die. Merry Christmas everyone," says O'Scanlon who contests reported safety benefits of the cameras.
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