The Gainesville City Commission voted unanimously Thursday to approve the first reading of an ordinance to allow the installation of red-light cameras.
The City Commission decided to move forward with red-light cameras and school zone cameras in February, and the Office of the City Attorney drafted the ordinance to allow the camera enforcement. Thursday’s ordinance only deals with red-light and not school zone cameras.
The city currently plans to only roll out two red-light cameras—at the Waldo Road and NE 39th Avenue intersection and the NW 6th Street and NW 23rd Avenue intersection. The ordinance will still need another vote to be finalized.
The city is required by state law to place signs ahead of the intersections warning that red-light cameras are in use.
Karla Rodrigues Silva, Vision Zero coordinator, said the intersections were picked based on the number of incidents and severity of crashes. She said running red lights has been a growing problem.
In 2023, the Gainesville Police Department (GPD) issued 388 citations for red light violations and violations of traffic control signals. In 2024, the number jumped to 450 citations.
Commissioner Bryan Eastman said he’s excited to finally implement the program after several years of discussions within the Vision Zero program. He supported slowly rolling out the red-light cameras and making sure GPD can handle extra work.
While expected not to produce any significant revenue, Eastman asked if there was a plan for any additional dollars that come from the $158 fines for running a red light. He said other cities have dedicated those funds to traffic safety improvements.
City Manager Cynthia Curry said any revenue from the fines (after paying for costs and the vendor) would go into the general funds. She said she created an isolated account for those dollars in order to track the new program.
How the city uses those funds will be a budget question for management and the City Commission to decide, she said.
Where the red-light camera fines go
- $75 to Gainesville (with a portion to the vendor)
- $70 to Florida’s general revenue fund
- $10 to the Department of Health’s Emergency Medical Services Trust Fund
- $3 to the Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Trust Fund
Red light cameras, while intended to improve traffic safety, have several potential downsides:
1. Revenue Over Safety: Some cities have been accused of using red light cameras primarily as revenue generators rather than safety tools, sometimes shortening yellow light durations to increase violations.
2. Increased Rear-End Collisions: Studies have shown that while red light cameras may reduce T-bone (right-angle) crashes, they can increase rear-end collisions as drivers stop abruptly to avoid tickets.
3. Questionable Accuracy: Technical glitches or unclear circumstances (e.g., making a legal right turn on red) can result in unfair tickets.
4. Due Process Concerns: Automated enforcement may deny drivers the opportunity to confront their accuser (the camera) in court, complicating the appeals process.
5. Public Backlash: Many drivers view red light cameras as intrusive or unfair, leading to legal challenges and ballot measures to remove them in some jurisdictions. At the end of the day, the company monitoring the red light cameras are the only ones making money you have an entire police department and let them do their job. GPD has a traffic unit focus more on community policing, and gun violence.
The level of stupidity amazes me. Will somebody tell the city what happens when you lose the ticket fines but still have to pay the service fee’s because of the “lack of one to be able confront your accuser in court?” (constitution thing)
I moved to Gainesville, Florida from the St. Louis area more than a decade ago. The experience with red light cameras up there seems to have been almost entirely negative. They didn’t noticeably reduce accidents, nor did they noticeably increase fines for very long, since any tickets that were contested were just dropped (for lack of ability to prove who was driving the car). I think they finally just gave up on their bad idea.
Another Gainesville, FL City Commission Ordinance?
If this ordinance is passed and adopted by the City Commission then let’s watch for implementation and enforcement.
Implementation and enforcement of Zero Waste Initiative ordinances passed by the Gainesville, FL City Commission in 2022 have yet to materialize.
Be very careful of any private company involvement in the ticketing process. So long as the private company involved in the operation of the cameras is not paid a commission on a per ticket basis there will be no incentive for the company operating the red light cameras to issue tickets for marginal, or even innocent, cases as has happened elsewhere. Absent this stipulation, I say a very firm “No” to red light cameras.
Dang. Did I ever mis-read the headline — redlight district and cameras– wow!
Less automation and more actual police work. For some things you just can’t replace the human connection and embarrassment of explaining to “Frank” why you ran the red. I agree something needs to be done not sure cameras will be our savior. 34th and W University ave needs some attention too!