More red light cameras up and running

PORT RICHEY - Bay Area drivers who think they're getting away with running a red light, better think again.

The city of Port Richey has new red light cameras set up at Richey Road and U.S. Highway 19. The cameras will capture images of license plates on vehicles that go through red lights.

Registered owners will receive notices in the mail. Violators face fines of $150. There's a grace period until midnight Monday, November 30.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office is following suit. Friday, red light cameras installed at Dale Mabry Highway and Waters Avenue will activate.

During the evening rush hour Thursday, car after car ran the red light, as a FOX 13 camera rolled.

Katie Cannon, who works at check cashing business on the corner, says it happens all of the time.

"Once you do get out in the intersection, you wonder if you're the first car out, if you're going to get hit by another car who just runs the light," Cannon explained.

She said it's so bad that one day all she heard were sirens.

"They were over in the Marshall's Plaza just clocking people, as they were going through the lights, just picking them off one by one pretty much and I counted about 15 or 20 of them they pulled over," she said.

Works crews from the Arizona-based American Traffic Solutions were still out installing the cameras Thursday afternoon.

When the traffic light turns red, the cameras start recording. The images will go straight to the sheriff's office.

"Over 800 people die annually because of red light running, so we take it very seriously here in our county," Deputy Larry McKinnon said.

Over the next few weeks, red light cameras will go up in 10 busy county intersections.

"The traffic violation is $125. That money goes completely into the Hillsborough County general fund and the sheriff's office doesn't receive any money at all," McKinnon said in response to accusations that the red light program is a way for the agency to bring in money during tough economic times.

But attorney Jack Townsend thinks money is the motivation for the red light cameras and he says they're unlawful under state law.

"Our argument is that the Attorney General said this couldn't be done on state roads, so I don't think local governments ... have the power," Townsend said.

His client David Bulluck and four others are suing the city of Temple Terrace. Bulluck received a notice for running a red light while making a right turn last year. He says he stopped. He fought the ticket and won, but says now he's looking out for other drivers put in an unfair position.

"If you don't stop at a certain white line on the road where if you do stop at that white line on the road, you can't see anyway the cars that are coming from your left," Bulluck said.

The sheriff's office says the system costs them nothing. American Traffic Solutions will get a portion of the citation revenue. Deputies will give warnings until December 29.

Meanwhile, the City of Tampa considered red light cameras two years ago, but shelved the idea until now. The police department is checking with other municipalities to see if the cameras have decreased accidents.

The city has not determined any possible sites for cameras.