Red Light Cameras Spot 7 Violators a Day at Bloomingdale Ave. Intersection

Hillsborough County’s careless drivers seem to be getting the message. Citations for running red lights at six major intersections with cameras, including one in the Bloomingdale area, fell by 7.8 percent last year.

The year 2011 saw 28,119 citations issued for running red lights at the six intersections compared with 30,507 in 2010, records show, the first year the cameras went operational. That’s 2,384 fewer citations.

The 24-hour cameras at Bloomingdale Avenue and Bell Shoals Road generated 2,546 red light citations in 2011, an average of almost seven red light violations a day. That’s 16 fewer citations than 2010.

The entrance at to Westfield Brandon Mall at Brandon Town Centre and Brandon Boulevard accounts for 29.3 percent of red light violations in the county, Brandon Patch reports. That’s an average of 22 motorists running red lights every day at the popular intersection, making it the second most dangerous crossroads for red-light runners at intersections outfitted with cameras.

Motorists caught running a red light pay a $158 fine. Of that, $75 goes to the county or city where the violation occurred with the remainder going to the state.

The company that installed the cameras — American Traffic Solutions — is paid $4,750 per month, per camera.

Crashes have also decreased at the intersections overall since the cameras have been installed, accident reports show.

The six intersections reported 395 crashes in 2008, 275 crashes in 2009, 270 crashes in 2010 and 240 in 2011, according to sheriff’s office reports .

Public awareness of the cameras is a major factor in the decline in accidents and citations, Morgan said.

“We said from the beginning it would modify people’s behavior and that’s what is happening.”

Drivers are now behaving as if a patrol car is sitting at each intersection with the added advantage “that the cameras can catch more than one person at a time,” Morgan said. “I can pull over one driver for running a red light, but I can only deal with one car at a time.”

For those not sold on red light cameras — and that opposition includes a recent USF study that questioned the need for red light cameras — Morgan suggests a little YouTube.

“You can go the sheriff’s office website and watch the videos of drivers running red lights and judge for yourself," he said. "I think any reasonable person would see the need for the cameras after watching these videos."

Other county intersections could use red light cameras, Morgan said, “but that is not my decision. I wish the red light cameras were not necessary. The cameras would go away if people would just stop looking for excuses and just stop for the light.”

Morgan also has some simple advice for anyone who gets a ticket: obey traffic laws.

“The program doesn’t cost taxpayers. It is paid for by those who run the red lights, these are the people who fund the program. If they stop running red lights it the program wouldn’t exist. It would be one less responsibility for law enforcement, and we have other important issues we could allocate our resources to.”