HOUSTON (AP) - Houston has turned off its red light cameras after canvassing votes from a Nov. 2 ballot question that asked city residents whether they wanted cameras at their intersections.
Houston officially turned off the cameras on Monday. Initially, the city had said it would have to live up to the 120-day shut-off clause in the contract it has with the camera supplier even though most voters had opposed the cameras.
"Citizens Against Red Light Cameras," the group that petitioned to put the question on the ballot, says the cameras have never been proven to save a life.
Police and rescue services had quoted studies that found collisions decreasing at intersections with cameras. The cameras had generated more than $44 million in revenues.
What are your thoughts on the red light cameras? Do they cause more harm than good?
City commissioners say they installed the cameras for safety concerns at those intersections. When you run that red-light, the city gets some of the revenue. As of June of this year, that total was more than half a million dollars. But the city doesn't get all of that money. Half goes to the state, some goes toward expenses, and the rest goes into traffic safety improvements.
