TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Hernando Today

Traffic Cameras Will Soon Have Scofflaws In Sights

ADVERTISEMENT

By TONY MARRERO

Hernando Today

Published: March 18, 2009

BROOKSVILLE - Motorists making their way north into Brooksville will want to be on their best behavior starting as early as this week.

The city's first traffic camera aimed to nab red-light runners in the act will be operational by Monday, officials with American Traffic Solutions told the city council Monday night.

The camera will be perched on the southwest corner of Broad Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to monitor motorists traveling north on Broad, said Greg Parks, regional vice president for Arizona-based ATS.

Cameras will be in place to monitor the northbound lanes of Broad at Wiscon Road and the southbound lanes of Cobb Road at West Jefferson Street by April 23.

And they'll be spying on the northbound lanes of Cobb at Jefferson Street and the northbound lanes of Broad at Cortez Boulevard by June 15, Parks said.

The council unanimously approved an ordinance in April to allow the cameras, but the installation process has been slowed by permitting problems and finding sites for the cameras, Parks said.

Because the state forbids the cameras from being placed in the Florida Department of Transportation right of way, the cameras must be placed on city or private property.

ATS has installed cameras in cities large and small throughout the country, but is just starting in Florida and has had a learning curve to climb when it comes to dealing with property owners, John Caputo, the company's director of services told the council.

Brooksville was among one of the first cities to approve the cameras.

"Some (property owners) have been quick to give permission, others have not," Caputo said. "With others we have to go through corporations. We sort of naively approached it from the beginning, and so it took a little longer than we thought it would."

In the case of the camera at Broad and MLK, a Kansas woman Caputo indentified as a "Mrs. Hocker," who owns the land on which the Dairy Queen sits, gave permission to use her land.

Hocker was "very cooperative," Caputo told the council.

ATS does compensate property owners in a small number of cases, Josh Weiss, the company's director of communications, said in a follow-up interview Tuesday. More often, the landowners are happy to allow use of the property to make the intersection in front of the land safer and cut down on the traffic snarls caused by accidents, he said.

Weiss said he didn't know whether Hocker was being compensated. Property records show the owner of the parcel as Hocker and Hocker Inc., based in Sawnee Mission, Kan. Hocker could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Installation of the cameras comes at no cost to the city. Instead, ATS will take $40 from every $125 ticket issued to an offender, leaving $85 for the city.

Bills working their way through both chambers of the Florida Legislature would allow traffic cameras to be placed in the DOT right of way. However, the House version would increase the fine to $150 but require cities and counties to donate some of the revenue to trauma centers and public hospitals.

Municipalities that already have camera programs up and running on private property will probably be grandfathered in and allowed to operate as they currently do, ATS officials told the council.

The cameras snap two still photos and video of a car moving through an intersection, producing digital images sharp enough to read license plates. A police officer would then review the images and determine whether the motorist ran the light.

The fines would be civil penalties and would not cause points to be added to a motorist's license.

Signs will be posted at the intersections to notify motorists. The city will soon start a public awareness campaign, City Manager Jennene Norman-Vacha said, with notices on the city Web site and possibly on monthly water bills.

Council members remained enthusiastic about the program.

"We're looking forward to start saving lives and property," Vice Mayor Lara Bradburn said.

Reporter Tony Marrero can be reached at 352-544-5286 or lmarrero@hernandotoday.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT