Gone
Red-light cameras in Dallas and other Texas cities would be gradually turned off under legislation approved Wednesday by the Senate.
The measure by Sen. Bob Hall, a Republican whose district includes part of Dallas County, along with Rockwall and Kaufman counties, would initially prohibit the future use of the cameras at intersections. Existing camera programs would have to be shut down as contracts between cities and camera vendors expire.
Senators passed the bill on a 23-7 vote and sent it to the House, where it has a good chance of passing.
“This is a concept that sounded good on paper but failed miserably in real world application,” Hall said, citing strong opposition from the public to cities’ use of red-light cameras.
[…]
Hall argued that red-light cameras originally were “sold to the public as a tool to improve public safety with a carefully worded and cleverly designed sales pitch by corporations who expected to make great profits.”
But the red-light camera programs “trample on constitutional rights” while doing little to make roads safer, he said.
The bill in question is SB714. I don’t have any desire to re-litigate any of this, but for what it’s worth I don’t think the constitution has anything to say on this subject. I also see this as yet another attack on local control, which I’m not crazy about. All that said, if it passes the House, it passes the House. I think if it gets to a vote in the House it will pass, but given how crazy things have been so far, there’s no guarantee of that. I do find it interesting that this bill was passed with all but one Republican Senator voting for it, given that in the 2010 referendum in Houston, Republicans strongly supported red light cameras. Just a reminder that partisan preferences can and do change sometimes.
“I do find it interesting that this bill was passed with all but one Republican Senator voting for it, given that in the 2010 referendum in Houston, Republicans strongly supported red light cameras. Just a reminder that partisan preferences can and do change sometimes.”
Law and order is great…..as long as it is somebody else paying. My bet is these legislators, their families, and their supporters have been victimized by the cameras personally. The the many cities that have already kicked the cameras to the curb demonstrate that they become victims of their own success. Rob enough people and the backlash is palpable.
I won’t shed a tear to see the rest of them go. Sorry Jersey Village, Lufkin, and other cities.
Full disclosure: I have never received a red light ticket, but I have had to perform some unsafe maneuvers to avoid being victimized by them….and once narrowly avoided being rear ended as a result.
Red light cameras are city sponsored hate crimes.
FYI, SB 714, as passed by the Senate, allows local authorities that currently use red light cameras under contract to continue to do so indefinitely as long as they revise their existing contract expiration dates before June.
SECTION 9(b) of the Senate Engrossment reads as follows:
(b) Notwithstanding the repeal by this Act of Sections 542.405 and 542.406 and provisions of Chapter 707, Transportation Code, if before June 1, 2015, a local authority had enacted an
ordinance under those provisions to implement a photographic traffic signal enforcement system and entered into a contract for the administration and enforcement of the system, the local authority may continue to operate the system under that ordinance and under the terms of that contract until the expiration date specified in the contract as the contract existed on June 1, 2015.
you are right on partisan preferences as the senators that should be most familiar with how much their constituents feel about the cameras, Houston Senators Garcia and Ellis both voted to keep the cameras rolling across Texas. Maybe they don’t feel like there will be any push back because Houston already removed the cameras. What has only been reported in a couple of news outlets is that, not only did the senate bill allow cameras to stay with existing contracts virtually indefinitely, but Senator Van Taylor’s amendment on the floor actually paves the way for handheld speed ticket cameras that would automatically send out tickets in the mail to the owner of a vehicle. Think of a cop hiding out of sight with a handheld camera filming everyone driving by and sending out tickets without ever pulling anyone over. And with no regulations setting standards there is nothing to say that they couldn’t mail out tickets for going 1mph over the speed limit and for $500.