Click here for the Georgia Department of Transportation Web site on the use of red-light cameras.
Red-light cameras would be barred by state law under a bill pending in the Georgia General Assembly.
The city of Rome installed a camera at Turner McCall Boulevard and Hicks Drive in 2004 to catch and ticket drivers who run the light. Another camera is slated for Veterans Memorial and Martha Berry highways in April, and fine revenues are expected to top $200,000 this year.
“It started as a safety issue but transitioned into a revenue issue,” said state Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Cassville, one of the sponsors of House Bill 77. “And now it really is a safety issue.”
Loudermilk said sponsors are gathering statistics from the Georgia Department of Transportation that seem to indicate an uptick in wrecks — especially rear-end collisions — at intersections where the cameras are installed.
Rome officials, however, have said the cameras have prevented more serious side-impact wrecks.
City officials have repeatedly denied the cameras are aimed at generating revenue, noting the number of crashes at the Turner McCall/Hicks intersection dropped to 51 in the 12 months after the camera went up compared to 59 in the previous 12 months.
Kirk Milam, who was the public works director at the time, said injuries also dropped to 9 from 12 during the same period.
A 2003 study by the National Cooperative Highway Research Program found evidence a camera improves the overall safety of an intersection, but researchers also stated the evidence is not conclusive.
Loudermilk said his group found reductions in angled crashes between turning drivers and red-light runners, but “the number of rear-end collisions from people slamming on their brakes exceeds the reductions.”
His main objection to the cameras, however, is they violate the Sixth Amendment of the Constitution that gives defendants the right to face their accusers, he said.
“The camera only takes a picture of the vehicle, not the person driving,” he said. “The burden of proof is on the government, but how do they get a camera to testify it was you in the car?”
Loudermilk said attorneys have come down on both sides of the issue, but a majority believes the question is a logical one.
“The bill is going to be controversial,” he said. “But the law (allowing camera enforcement) is new. Now that there are statistics to show they don’t increase safety, I think people will support a repeal.”
