New Jersey’s automated photo-enforcement pilot program, otherwise known as red-light cameras, came to an end at 11:59 p.m. Dec. 16.
State Assemblyman O’Scanlon (R-Monmouth), who led an effort to ensure the program would not be renewed past its planned expiration date, said, “It is a great day for the motorists of New Jersey. The state Department of Transportation’s five-year pilot program thankfully comes to an end and has left the public with no doubt that these machines are only about revenue, not safety.
“Many individual municipalities have begun rejecting cameras, but New Jersey is the first state entity to give these ATMs (automated taxing machines) the boot. I am proud of New Jersey and thank our governor for coming down on the side of motorists over money.
O’Scanlon said the problems with the program are “rampant,” not just with the New Jersey program, but with the concept of automated enforcement at its core.
“Every single competent, credible, unbiased study done to date indicates that automated enforcement does not improve safety. Even in the studies that try to suggest a safety benefit, the cost benefit analysis is a disaster for the programs,” he said.
“The flaws and issues with the program are myriad. To highlight just a few, the program had to be shut down two years ago for failing to provide the proper yellow-light timing methodology; camera companies did not notify 17,000 motorists of their infractions; and, in some cases, drivers have been ticketed for going through a red light when a police officer was directing traffic through the intersection — so much for the supposedly infallible review process.
“Here in New Jersey, for instance, even if we accept the dubious claims of some tortured, marginal safety benefit, the ratio of saved cost vs. fines issued is on the order of 30 to 1. That is $30 in costs for every $1 of supposed savings. That is an outrageously bad deal for New Jersey motorists.
“The reason why this equipment does not improve safety is that the folks causing accidents at intersections are not homicidal maniacs choosing to barrel through an intersection; they are you and me on a bad day with a sick kid in the back or worried about work. They just don’t realize the light has changed.
“If the prospect of death is not enough to eliminate those momentary brain lapses, hundred-dollar tickets are not going to either. Towns have been blinded by the huge profits taken in at these [red-light camera] intersections — upwards of $1 million per intersection. … The bottom line is that there is no consistent safety benefit.”