NJDOT Lifts Red Light Camera Suspension

The path for to was made a little smoother Wednesday when the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) announced they lifted a suspension on issuing summonses at red light camera intersections.

A participating 21 municipalities with a total 63 red light cameras can start to give summonses for motorists who drive through red lights. A further four towns with 22 red lights were not affected by the suspension.

The suspension was issued on June 19 in response to complaints and a court case about the yellow light timing at the affected intersections. "The pilot program legislation specified a formula to determine the proper duration of the yellow light in a traffic signal," according to the a press release from NJDOT.

The formula specified by the program was different from the "legally required, nationally accepted formula that NJDOT, counties and municipalities use when installing traffic signals," the press release reads.

According to Chatham Borough Traffic Safety Officer Robert Sweetin, yellow lights are usually based on how long it would take a pedestrian to safely walk across the street, given the posted speed limit. "What they argued in court was, what's in the books and what's reality could be two different things, so the court instructed them to get 85 percent of what the actual traffic speed is and calculate [yellow lights] off of there."

The cameras remained active and continued to record motorist activity, but no summonses were issued until each municipality conduced a traffic analysis and gave the results to NJDOT.

NJDOT has told affected towns they can issue summonses again, and can issue issue summonses for violations that occurred during the suspension period.

This news could affect , since the council gave Sweetin permission to sign up for a waiting list to get a .

There are about 25 towns currently on the waiting list to get red light cameras, Sweetin said.

The statewide red light camera pilot program "aims to determine whether red light cameras promote safety by reducing the frequency and severity of crashes at intersections that have a history of motorists running red lights," according to the NJDOT press release.