What Do You Think of Red-Light Cameras?

The New Jersey Department of Transportation has granted 21 municipalities permission to resume ticketing from red-light cameras after suspending the programs at a total of 63 intersections in June over concerns those towns may have used the wrong formula to determine yellow-light duration.

In June, the DOT ordered nearby Newark and 20 other municipalities to suspend issuing violations at camera intersections because questions arose over the timing of the lights.

Gov. Chris Christie announced the suspension in the 21 towns had been lifted Tuesday night during his monthly "Ask the Governor" call-in radio program on New Jersey 101.5 FM.

Each of the 21 municipalities conducted the DOT-requested traffic analysis and provided their re-certifications to DOT through professionally licensed municipal engineers, DOT said Wednesday in a statement. Those re-certifications show the yellow-light times conform to the pilot program's formula.

The municipalities affected by the suspension have been informed that they are now permitted to continue issuing violation summonses, as well as issue violation summonses for violations that occurred during the suspension period.

But now that the state has given the green-light to use this technology, do you think West Orange could benefit from using them?

Arguments can be made for either side, so vote in the poll below and leave a comment about whether you think red-light cameras will make intersections safer or not, or whether you think they are just another way to increase township coffers. 

Steve Carrellas, New Jersey representative of the National Motorists Association driving rights group, told the Star-Ledger that fines issued before the red-light cameras were certified can still be dismissed because “they weren’t certified at the time of the violation being registered.”

DOT noted in its statement that had a town's analysis shown that a signal did not display a yellow light long enough to meet the formula in the legislation, that intersection would have been removed from the pilot program.

DOT included the following, unedited explanation of the differences between the two formulas when announcing ticketing suspensions in the 21 towns in June:

NJDOT follows the legally required engineering and safety standards in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, which requires a minimum duration of the yellow light to equal one-tenth of the posted speed limit on the approaching road. This is a safety standard designed to provide motorists with sufficient time to respond to the yellow light and prevent collisions.

For example, where the approaching road has a posted speed of 40 miles per hour, the signal must display yellow for a minimum of four seconds. NJDOT rounds up to the nearest whole second, so in instances where the approaching speed limit is 45 miles per hour, the signal displays a yellow light for five seconds.

The formula in the legislation to determine pilot-program eligibility requires an analysis of vehicle speeds as they approach the intersection where a red light camera installation is proposed. The formula requires a yellow signal of at least three seconds if at least 85 percent of the approaching traffic travels at speeds of 25 miles per hour or less. 

For each five mile-per-hour increase in vehicle speed above 30 miles per hour, the minimum duration of the yellow light must be increased by 0.5 seconds, according to the legislation.

This requirement aims to ensure that the traffic signal is timed properly to provide motorists with sufficient time to avoid a violation and fine by entering an intersection when the light is red.