Ask Doug: Red Light Cameras

Ever since cash-strapped cities and counties gave the green light to red light cameras, there have been a lot of questions and confusion.

The cameras are in more than 100 communities across the country and dozens of cities and counties throughout Florida.

Get caught running a red and you'll get a ticket in the mail, but that ticket is different that the kind you'd get from an officer on the street.

It's a violation of a city or county ordinance to get caught by a red light camera -- not a violation the state's uniform traffic code.

What does that mean?

This kind of ticket doesn't go to Florida’s Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. So it won't count as point against your driver's license, but you will have to pay a fine, and the money is split between the city or county, and the private company that operates these red light cameras.