Legislature approves red-light cameras for Buffalo
50 intersections could be monitored
Published: April 07, 2009, 12:30 am
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ALBANY — After several years of lobbying by the city, Buffalo is getting permission from the state to install cameras at dangerous intersections as a way to reduce accidents — and raise revenues.
Blocked the past few years by an influential Assembly Democrat from Rochester, bills rapidly moved through the Legislature to permit the devices in Buffalo and several other cities and counties statewide.
The compromise, however, allows the city to install 50 cameras at any one time — half what the Brown administration had wanted — and to impose a maximum fine of $50—also half what Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown had sought.
The red-light camera bills were approved Monday in the Assembly and today the Senate approved them in a 55-7 vote.
“The city has been lobbying to get the cameras for three years now, and we believe they will make traffic intersections in the City of Buffalo safer, and [revenue from] fines generated will go into public safety measures to continue to make our city safer,” Brown said.
The new bills come after a statewide camera intersection measure, proposed in December by Gov. David A. Paterson, was stripped from the state budget bills that passed last week. The new measures will permit intersection cameras on Long Island and in Yonkers, Rochester, Syracuse and Buffalo; they also extend the camera program already under way for 15 years in New York City.
The measure lets Buffalo decide where to place the cameras. In New York City, officials have said they have witnessed a drop-off in intersection accidents. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that the introduction of cameras resulted in drivers running red lights 40 percent less often and a 32 percent decrease in the number of front-to-side motor vehicle accidents. But the number of rear-end collisions, the result of drivers stopping fast to avoid getting photographed, also increased. Safety officials, however, say those types of accidents result in far fewer serious injuries and deaths than the front-to-side accidents.
“It’s really about stopping the T-boning accidents,” said Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, DBuffalo, the bill’s sponsor in the Assembly.
The new bill is less ambitious than what Brown wanted. Originally, Brown pushed for 100 cameras and $100 fines, which the city estimated would bring Buffalo $13 million in the first year from an estimated 1,800 additional traffic tickets in a day.
The new measure limits the fine for running a red light to $50, though cities can impose an additional $25 as penalties for drivers not responding to infraction notices.
Hoyt said the new bill is expected to be worth $2.75 million annually to the city, significantly less than the Brown administration had estimated with double the cameras.
“What’s driven me on this whole issue is the public safety angle, not a money grab for government, which is why I kept the fine down to $50,” Hoyt said.
The measure has its detractors, some of whom have argued it represents another Big Brother intrusion of cameras doing the work of humans. Critics also have raised privacy issues and have claimed the fines amount to a hidden tax on city residents and commuters.
But there is, critics say, a major flaw with the bill: The person breaking the law is not the one necessarily being fined. The cameras photograph the rear license plate of a car that runs a red light. An infraction notice and fine is then sent to the vehicle’s owner, who is responsible for paying. Critics say that will result in owners getting fined even if they were not driving the car. Violations are treated like parking tickets; no points on licenses are assessed for infractions.
One lawmaker said the intended result — getting red-light runners to change their behavior — is undermined if they are not always the ones paying the penalty and getting ticketed.
“If there’s no real penalty for that person who is driving through that intersection and is the one who is causing the danger where somebody can get hit and hurt or even killed, I’m not sure it’s going to bring about the intended result that the sponsors want,” said Assemblyman James Hayes, R-Amherst.
The only owners not liable to pay fines are car rental companies, so long as they provide to the city the name of the person who rented the car when caught on film running a red light.
Hoyt introduced the first red-light camera bill nine years ago. In recent years, Assemblyman David Gantt, D-Rochester, chairman of the Transportation Committee, blocked the measure, citing a range of concerns. But last year, The Buffalo News reported, he changed his mind and actually sponsored a bill to permit the cameras in a number of communities. But the Gantt bill required the use of a certain kind of technology that is used predominantly by an Albany- area company whose lobbyist was a longtime friend of the lawmaker.
The new measures approved this week have killed those conditions from the bill last year by Gantt.
Sen. Antoine Thompson, DBuffalo, sponsor of the Buffalo camera bill in the Senate, said his house will pass the measure, probably today. He dismissed critics who talked of the fines being hidden taxes. “If you aren’t speeding you don’t pay a ticket,” he said.
The lawmaker added that the cameras could also be useful in high-crime areas to catch those involved, for instance, in drive-by shootings. Those committing drive-by shootings often run red lights when fleeing the scene; the new cameras could help apprehend such suspects, he said.
Brown said the city will concentrate the cameras in the busiest intersections and at those with a history of accidents involving red light runners.
The measure becomes effective 30 days after the bill is signed into law. Paterson’s approval, given that he proposed a more ambitious effort in his budget, is expected in the weeks ahead. The city would still have to obtain bids from private companies for the camera work, so it is uncertain when the cameras would be in place.
tprecious@buffnews.com
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