Hey Gloucester Township, Kick the Red-Light Camera Revenue Habit.

What is the need for ten red-light cameras in just over a one-mile stretch of Blackwood-Clementon Road in a township that is over 22 square miles? Is there some inherent danger there that doesn’t exist elsewhere in the township? Do drivers along Blackwood-Clementon Road throw caution to the wind and drive like the devil to run the gauntlet of that notorious stretch of highway and its punishing red-light ticket cameras?

Mayor Dave Mayer continues to stand by his comments that "We had to try to slow traffic down. And we had to do that for a number of reasons. One is safety. The other is economic development. Traffic just flowed too quickly through there. As you can see, that corridor is not thriving." (Township Rakes in Red-Light Cameras Revenue)

I ask again, does that stretch of road flourish now, Mr. Mayer? You have promised transparency; when can we get an answer to this question?

Seventy-two tickets per day on average, the largest percentage issued to Blackwood-area residents, becomes a punishment on the select few that have need to travel there for one reason or another. Then there are those who travel there no more because of the red-light ticket scam; and what does that do for economic growth along this wilting business corridor?

On top of that we continue to enrich Arizona-based American Traffic Solutions, Inc., the equipment contractor, to the tune of $570,000.00 annually.

And let’s not forget that ATS agreed to pay out a cash settlement rather than go to court over their scam.

American Traffic Solutions, Inc., red-light camera contractor, has agreed to pay out a “$4.2 million settlement…to more than 400,000 drivers who have claimed to be wrongly ticketed by red-light cameras.” (NJ.com – Judge approves $4.2M red-light camera settlement)

But I digress…and for good reason. I have personally seen the “Pause and Turn on Red” maneuver executed at numerous times and at diverse locations by GT drivers throughout the township with impunity. No ticket was ever issued and no one was the wiser except for me and any other individual who might have observed the dastardly deed being perpetrated.

I am not suggesting that there was any danger when these laws were surreptitiously broken, but then there is generally no danger when the same actions occur along Red Light Row (Blackwood-Clementon Road) either but the outcome is much different to the tune of $85.

Yet council and our mayor continue to hold our feet to the fire on this issue while the tide recedes and the truth about this destructive practice continues to grow. In a February 6th article in the Brick (NJ) Patch, we are informed that the mayor of Brick Township, citing a rise in accidents and continued resident disapproval of the practice, is cancelling the red-light camera ticket program there, a campaign promise that helped him get elected and on which he is now making good. Red-light ticket cameras will be turned off on February 18, 2014, in Brick Township. The contract with ATS is up and there is no desire to renew as expressed by the residents of Brick. According to the story, it was not only those who had been ticketed that protested but there was a general consensus all around to get rid of the cameras.

I don’t know the current status of our contract with ATS but I will endeavor to find out. Regardless, it’s past time to remove the Red-Light Cameras along Blackwood-Clementon Road and bring back the shoppers who now go elsewhere in protest of such an unfair practice and the attendant punishment. If, in fact, there is more danger along this road than elsewhere that requires such a scheme, than let Mr. Mayer call a town meeting and present the hard data to make his case. The people say, “No more!”

Fact: I was ticketed without sufficient evidence that I had done anything wrong but was still forced to spend a half-day in court at my own expense or be scammed out of $85. The contractor, ATS, and our township representative failed in their stated duty to view each captured video to root out false positives in my case. First, ATS is to review the footage for accuracy and then our township law enforcement rep is supposed to put a second set of eyes on the video to assure it is accurate but both were negligent in this duty. Why was the officer in court able to see the problem thus causing the prosecutor to recommend dropping the charge but the contractor and the ticketing officer were not able to identify a false positive? Let me guess, they didn’t care enough to practice their due diligence and the $85 fine became the overarching driver in this case. How many more that can’t fight the courts for one reason or another are falsely fined?

I reiterate my call for the mayor and council to end this program that punishes Blackwood-area residents and the businesses along Blackwood-Clementon Road.

Mr. Mayer, “TEAR THESE RED-LIGHT CAMERAS DOWN!”