Red-light cameras come to Hillsborough

TAMPA - They're popping up at intersections near you: Red light cameras are showing up in many places around the Bay Area.

Speed through a red light at the intersection of Anderson Road and Waters Avenue in Hillsborough County, and you might see a flashing light -- and soon after that, a ticket in the mail.

Six intersections in Hillsborough County are now equipped:

• Anderson Road and Waters Avenue
• Waters and North Dale Mabry
• Brandon and Grand Regency boulevards
• Bloomingdale and Bell Shoals
• Sligh and Habana
• Bruce B. Downs and Fletcher

For the next 60 days, drivers who run reds will get a warning. After that, the fine is $125.

And be warned: deputies say when stopping, your front tires must be behind the thick white pedestrian traffic line just before the walking zone. If you stop with your tires on the white line, you will get a ticket.

"The great thing about this program is, it's 24 hours, seven days a week," said Corporal Darrin Barlow with the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. "It's no manpower. It's cost-neutral. It's no impact to the taxpayers and it's targeting exactly who are causing these serious injuries."

Since the program went online several weeks ago, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office says they've sent out a significant number of warning notices to drivers. But they're hoping that number decreases as the year goes on.

Some say they don't like the idea of cameras at the intersections.

"We already have so many restrictions on us as a driver. They want to keep control of everything we're doing. But this is just another way of them keeping an eye on us," complained driver Barbara Sosa.

But the sheriff's office says one of the reasons for the cameras is to promote safer driving, something many in the community want.

"Traffic is the number-one thing that people complain about, and they say that they want to see change and make it safer for all of us. And that's what this is about," Barlow added.