Richard Inkeles of Neptune Township returns to his seat after speaking about red-light cameras at the Township Committee meeting. PG photo
By Charles Layton
The Township Committee voted on Monday night to study whether red-light cameras would cut down on traffic accidents at certain Neptune intersections.
The study will be done by American Traffic Solutions, an Arizona-based company that specializes in installing and running these camera systems, which are designed to catch drivers in the act of running red lights. If ATS’s study shows that such a system would improve traffic safety in Neptune, the Committee would then consider implementing it.
Mayor Randy Bishop said the Neptune Police had suggested four intersections as likely sites for such systems because of their heavy traffic flow and/or number of accidents: Route 33 at Neptune Boulevard, Route 33 at Route 35, Route 33 at West Bangs Avenue, and Route 66 at Jumping Brook Road.
The state Department of Transportation has been putting pressure on New Jersey towns to adopt red-light cameras, and quite a number have already done so, including Brick, Deptford, East Brunswick, Glassboro, Gloucester, Jersey City, Linden, Newark, New Brunswick, Stratford, Wayne and Woodbridge. Bishop said he had spoken with officials in Brick who are “happy with how the system is functioning.”
This sign, in Linden, NJ, warns motorists that they're being watched. Photo by David Gard of New Jersey Local News Service
The way it works is, a city or town lets a private company install special camera equipment on poles at intersections with traffic lights. The devices capture images of cars in the act of running the red light. They take both video and still photos of the offending car, including shots of the license plate, and then send a traffic ticket to the car’s owner. The company supplies, installs, operates and services the equipment. When the owner pays the fine, the town and the company split the money.
One of the more controversial aspects of this arrangement is that such pictures are subject to interpretation and a private company with a built-in financial bias is acting in the role of traffic cop. A suit filed in Dallas in 2008 resulted in a judge’s decision that called into question millions of dollars in fines collected from that city’s red-light system. The judge found that the camera vendor had no legal authority to act as an investigator or to monitor intersections as an agent of the police. However, Bishop said that if Neptune were to adopt this system, a Neptune police official would review the pictures before the company issued a violation. “Our control over the violation being sent remains here at home,” he said.
Another frequently-cited problem is that the red-light camera system cannot determine who is driving the car at the time of a violation; it can only determine who owns the car, based on the license plate number. This has led to frequent law suits in other states, some of them involving ATS, the company Neptune will engage to do its study. There was no explanation at Monday’s meeting as to how the Township might address this problem.
The evidence has been mixed as to whether red-light cameras do, in fact, reduce traffic accidents. Some studies have concluded that they do. Others have concluded that the use of such cameras has actually led to more accidents — especially rear-end collisions. (The problem seems to be that drivers suddenly spot the cameras, slam on their brakes and get plowed into from behind.)
The main motivation for adopting red-light cameras has often been the increased revenues they may provide for a town. However, Bishop said he did not consider this a sufficient reason to move to such a system.
“I still oppose them as a revenue means,” he said. “I will support them if they improve safety.”
Both Bishop and Committeeman Eric Houghtaling have previously opposed red-light cameras. But on Monday they joined in the unanimous vote in favor of commissioning the study. Bishop said the study would likely take three or four months.