Red light running up since traffic cameras turned off
Based on figures from May 2014 compared to May 2015. Violations per 100,000 vehicles.
Trotwood: Up 77.5% from 126.5 to 224.6.
Springfield: Up 47% from 94.4 to 138.8.
West Carrollton: Up 39.8% from 161.6 to 225.9.
Middletown: Up 34.2% from 89.4 to 120.
Source: Traffic Safety Coalition
TRAFFIC COVERAGE
On TV: Sgt. Mark Bowron has traffic updates to help you with your commute every 10 minutes in the morning Monday-Friday from 5-7 a.m. on WHIO-TV Channel 7.
Online: Watch traffic cameras and find out where the cheap gas is on our new online traffic page at WHIO.com
On Twitter: Get the latest local traffic updates at @WHIOtraffic.
On the radio: Sgt. Mark Bowron has traffic updates throughout the day at News 95.7 FM and AM 1290. Also, listen at 7:15 a.m. Mondays for a look ahead at the week in construction areas to watch from our transportation reporter Steve Bennish.
TRAFFIC COVERAGE
On TV: Sgt. Mark Bowron has traffic updates to help you with your commute every 10 minutes in the morning Monday-Friday from 5-7 a.m. on WHIO-TV Channel 7.
Online: Watch traffic cameras and find out where the cheap gas is on our new online traffic page at WHIO.com
On Twitter: Get the latest local traffic updates at @WHIOtraffic.
On the radio: Sgt. Mark Bowron has traffic updates throughout the day at News 95.7 FM and AM 1290. Also, listen at 7:15 a.m. Mondays for a look ahead at the week in construction areas to watch from our transportation reporter Steve Bennish.
TRAFFIC COVERAGE
On TV: Sgt. Mark Bowron has traffic updates to help you with your commute every 10 minutes in the morning Monday-Friday from 5-7 a.m. on WHIO-TV Channel 7.
Online: Watch traffic cameras and find out where the cheap gas is on our new online traffic page at WHIO.com
On Twitter: Get the latest local traffic updates at @WHIOtraffic.
On the radio: Sgt. Mark Bowron has traffic updates throughout the day at News 95.7 FM and AM 1290. Also, listen at 7:15 a.m. Mondays for a look ahead at the week in construction areas to watch from our transportation reporter Steve Bennish.
Cities that turned off red light and speeding cameras in recent months are seeing an increase in traffic violations, according to newly released data.
Three cities in Ohio including Dayton have defied state law and kept the cameras on, arguing that rights under home rule authority trump state demands that legislators can rewrite the rules on how to issue tickets.
Data provided to the Traffic Safety Coalition from police departments showed that red light running rose 77.5 percent in Trotwood — the biggest local jump — following the state legislature’s passage of Senate Bill 342.
The cameras are not issuing tickets, but they are still recording violations.
Cities said the law made the cameras too expensive to operate because it required the presence of a police officer for tickets to be issued. The law became effective on March 23.
Springfield saw a jump of 47 percent in the month of May compared with May of last year; West Carrollton had a rise of 40 percent, and Middletown rose 34 percent.
Trotwood used 12 cameras to monitor five intersections and one school zone. Two mobile speed cameras have also been idled for now, Police Capt. John Porter said.
Violations jumped from 126.5 per 100,000 vehicles in May of last year to 224 last month.
“Safety will be jeopardized at those intersections and throughout the city because of the way people are driving now,” Porter said. “I believe no enforcement being taken is one of the reasons why we are seeing a spike in violations. People know we are not putting out violations and our systems are shut down. They are driving without regard to safety.”
Dayton receives about $1.7 million in revenue from the cameras.
Dayton, Akron and Toledo have kept the cameras functioning. State legislators responded by threatening to dock the cities by subtracting state contributions to their budgets equal to the amount that the cities bring in with ticket revenue.
Legal battle heating up
Judges in Montgomery, Lucas and Summit counties have made rulings supporting the cities by blocking the law, issuing preliminary injunctions. Columbus has also challenged the law, but has discontinued issuing tickets.
Meanwhile, the legal battle has moved to the 2nd District Court of Appeals in Dayton. Oral arguments are scheduled for 1:30 p.m. July 28 and attorneys for both the city and Ohio Attorney General’s Office will be present.
The case presents an interesting milestone in the tension between the powers of the state versus local authority. Legal experts predict it will ultimately be decided by the Ohio Supreme Court.
According to Cleveland.com, former Ohio Supreme Court Justice Andy Douglas warned state lawmakers earlier this month that the case could spark "a constitutional crisis."
Douglas urged the Senate Finance Committee to delete the state budget provision that would cut funding to cities that defy the new camera law.
The Traffic Safety Coalition estimates that 250 to 300 communities use speed and red light ticket cameras around the nation. The Coalition is managed by Resolute Consulting, a Chicago-based consulting firm, The coalition receives funding from RedFlex Traffic Systems, which supplies the cameras.
The Coalition said on its website that its local community partners around the nation include hospitals, police agencies, bicycle and pedestrian advocacy groups, and others.
Sue Oberhauser, who serves as co-chair of the coalition and lives in Somerset, Ohio, said the jump in violations indicates the cameras serve an important purpose. She and her husband have lobbied on behalf of the ticket cameras since 2005.
She said her daughter Sarah, 32, died in 2002 at an intersection just outside of Oxford when a driver ran a red light and hit her vehicle.
“Our daughter was killed by a driver who just didn’t want to stop. We feel a deep and real commitment,” she said. “Anything that makes traffic lights safer - it doesn’t make sense to get rid of them.”
West Carrollton Police Sgt. David Wessling oversees accident investigations. He attributes a drop in severe traffic accidents to the cameras. “It changes everyone’s driving habits throughout the city, not just at those intersections,” Wessling said.
In 2009, after cameras were installed, West Carrollton had 366 crashes that caused 55 injuries. In 2004, before the cameras were installed, there were 483 crashes and 71 injuries. The figures have declined steadily, he added.
State Sen. Bill Seitz, R-Cincinnati, sponsored the state law last year saying some tickets wouldn’t be written if an officer were present because cities were “issuing what I call ‘ticky-tacky tickets’ in an effort to bolster revenues for the devices.”
He said Tuesday that he offered a compromise before the bill was passed, asking that legal turns on red lights not be ticketed and that tickets be restricted to residents of the cities where the cameras operate.
“It was the cities’ own intransigence that put them in this pickle,” Seitz said. “They had opportunities to save the program. Their own pigheadedness prevented that from happening. The courts will ultimately determine whether it’s state law or not.”
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