Some communities like Middletown, Hamiton, Springfield, Trotwood and West Carrollton suspended their use on March 23 - the day the law took effect.
Dayton Police Chief Richard Biehl noted the increase in violations comes over months after passage of the state law that severely restricted use of the cameras. But the law didn’t kick in until three months after Gov. John Kasich signed the bill. The cameras continued to operate, and do still in the three Ohio cities.
From Jan. 1 2014 until March 27 of that year, Dayton’s speed ticket cameras issued 8,160 tickets. In the same period this year, the number jumped to 10,523, or a 29 percent rise, records from the city of Dayton show.
Red light violations in the same period last year were 1,821. That jumped to 2,312 this year, or 27 percent.
Comparing 2013 with 2014, violations were down 16.7 percent for speed in 2014 and up 37 percent for red light violations in 2014.
Dayton Police Det. Jason Ward said he gets around five telephone calls daily from motorists who believe the cameras are no longer issuing tickets.
“We tell them its been all over the news that they are back on,” Ward said. “We have been pro-active in letting the public know the cameras are on. I don’t know what else we can do.”
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