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Monday, December 08, 2008
Ind. Law - Still more on: "Red light camera push starts again"
Updating a long list of earlier ILB entries on red light cameras is this story today in the Lafayette Journal Courer, by Curt Clyder, whose story today begins:
Janie Amstutz has lived on South 23rd Street, within eyesight of the nearby busy intersection of Kossuth and Main streets, for 14 years.That's the same intersection where Lafayette officials set up a one-day test last spring of a camera designed to record vehicles running red lights.
Used in other states, but not yet in Indiana, these red light cameras allow traffic officials to mail tickets to the registered owners of vehicles caught running red lights. Such cameras usually photograph the vehicles' license plates to identify them.
Recording traffic over a 24-hour period heading southeast on Main Street, toward Tippecanoe Mall, the camera caught 135 vehicles doing some type of red light violation. That's significant since Lafayette police issued 368 tickets for such violations over a 16-month period from January 2007 to June 2008.
"That was surprising," said Sgt. Max Smith, of the department's traffic division. "I didn't expect that many blatant violations."
Amstutz, however, was not surprised. "I see a lot of that."
Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter said such cameras are not allowed in Indiana until the General Assembly passes legislation clearing the way for municipalities to install them. But a couple of local legislators have said such legislation is possible in 2009.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on December 8, 2008 09:45 AM
Posted to Indiana Law