Red means $75 fine
Star-Telegram | 01/15/2007 | Dallas begins red-light camera fines today
DALLAS - Starting today, red-light cameras will identify violators and the Police Department will slap them with a $75 fine.
Police have issued warnings to about 1,305 red-light runners caught on camera since the program began Dec. 8, officials said.
But the grace period is over. Owners of vehicles that run red lights will receive fines of $75 for the first and second violations and $150 for a third violation within 12 months.
The tickets are civil offenses and do not affect vehicle owners’ insurance.
Dallas is not alone with its crackdown. Arlington plans to install cameras at 10 of its most dangerous intersections by the end of February. Other area cities using red-light cameras include Garland, Plano, Richardson, Rowlett, Denton and Frisco.
Red light cameras are legal throughout texas. Balcones Heights implemented them at the end of last year and if you live in San Antonio you have seen that the cameras are already installed. I heard something the other night about them implementing them in San Antonio but I can’t find it now.
News for Austin, Texas | Bill targets red light cameras:
10:30 AM CST on Friday, January 12, 2007
A new bill filed by one Texas lawmaker could have a sweeping impact on red light cameras.
State Senator John Carona introduced Senate Bill 125 in December.
The chair of the Senate’s transportation committee says it would remove any “motive for profit” by transferring any extra revenue cities earn off the cameras into a state fund to support trauma and emergency medical care.
“None of us support red light runners. These cameras need to be used judiciously where there really are safety risks and where the public is threatened. But to hang them up as some cities do as the equivalent of modern day speed traps — that’s not what the public intended to be using this kind of technology,” says Senator Carona, (R) District 16 — Dallas County.
My question to Senator Carona would be, when is it safe to run a red light? When does running a red light not threaten the public safety? Is there some magical intersection I don’t know about where someone running the red doesn’t put me in danger. My husband will disagree completely with me and I have to admit the red light cameras feel very Big Brother to me but I am also a pragmatist and can see that Texas is 4th in red-light fatalities and something needs to be done. I just can’t see it as a money grab since they can’t get money if no one is breaking the law. Now I do think that Senate Bill 125 is a money grab, because the state gets zero of the revenue from the offenses because they are not traffic tickets, they are civil offenses.
Star-Telegram | 01/15/2007 | Dallas begins red-light camera fines today:
Texas ranks fourth in the nation in red-light fatalities, at 3.5 per 100,000 residents, according to the Federal Highway Administration. The agency reported that from 1993 to 2003, 7,300 fatal crashes at intersections were due to red-light running.
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Filed under: Dallas, Dallas county, San Antonio, red light cameras, senator Carona, texas, traffic fatalities
You make some really good points in this article and let me tell you I see people every day who are trying to make some excuse of this or that is they do the wrong thing.
If they weren’t going through a red light there would be nothing to answer to.
Regards, Travis