Ocoee keeps cameras running

OCOEE — Red-light cameras that catch drivers who make illegal right-hand turns at some intersections in Ocoee will continue to operate, a majority of the City Commission decided Sept. 16.

After debating the issue at this meeting and its prior regular meeting, the commission voted 4-1, with Commissioner Rusty Johnson dissenting, to keep the program as is.

Ceasing to cite right-hand-turn violators would have made a huge dent in fine revenue and left Ocoee’s overall red-light camera program no longer viable, city staff said.

So far in fiscal 2014, the city has collected about $950,000 in fines from straight-shot red-light runners and those who make illegal right-hand turns.

The bulk of the money, or about $800,000, came from right-hand turn violators. And those funds are needed in order to pay $456,000 to Scottsdale, Ariz.-based American Traffic Solutions for Ocoee’s eight red-light cameras. The cost breaks down to a rate of $4,750 per camera per month.

“(Ending enforcement on right-hand-turn violators) is probably not worth it if we’re going to lose the whole program,” Commissioner Joel Keller said.

A driver who is caught running a red light — either by flying through an intersection or making an illegal right-hand turn — could be fined $158. Of that, the state of Florida receives $87 and Ocoee receives $71. The city began using red-light cameras in July 2009.

“I think it’s a good program,” said Mayor Scott Vandergrift, who has been cited twice for red-light infractions. “Since 2009, I’ve probably got 10 complaints about it. It’s only affecting a minority of the people in the community, and you have every opportunity to review (an infraction).”

Ocoee Police Chief Charlie Brown also supported keeping the camera program unchanged.

“In my professional opinion, I think it would hinder our overall traffic light safety program to remove (the cameras that catch right-hand-turn violators),” Brown said.

The correct way to make a right turn at a red light is to stop at the stop bar and then make a “safe and prudent turn.”

“You have to be going 12 mph or more (through the turn) to trigger the camera,” Brown said.

Even then, many violators are given the benefit of the doubt: of the past 85,000 “triggered events,” the city has issued only about 11,000 violations. Violators are caught on video and still photos, which are reviewed by a city police officer. The officer must be able to testify in court that the driver did not make a safe turn on red.

Commissioner Rosemary Wilsen said she is not in favor of being lenient on drivers who make illegal right-hand turns.

“I think when you’re taught to drive, when you’re 16 years old, you’re taught to stop, look and then turn,” she said.

Most red-light infractions are happening during rush hour, and many occur at intersections where school children are trying to cross the road, Commissioner John Grogan said.

But overall, the red-light camera program is doing its job, Keller said.

“We’ve cut down on the number of people who have cut straight through the red lights and on the number of people who have not slowed down to turn right on red,” he said.

Johnson, however, cited what he called a larger problem: drivers traveling at 70 mph on east- and west-bound State Road 50 at Maguire Road.

“I have children and grandchildren,” Johnson said. “I want (the roadways) to be safe. But I think (the right-turn rule) is a confusion thing.”

He said he supports placing cameras that would catch drivers who run straight through red-light intersections on S.R. 50. But Brown said the state Department of Transportation has asked the city to wait on adding more cameras there until the S.R. 50 road-widening project is finished.

That could take several more years, Johnson complained.

Ocoee’s eight red-light cameras are stationed at these intersections:

• North- and southbound Maguire Road at State Road 50 (Colonial Drive)

• Northbound Blackwood Avenue at S.R. 50

• Northbound Clarke Road at A.D. Mims Road

• Southbound Clarke Road at White Road

• East- and westbound State Road 438 (Silver Star Road) at Clarke Road

• Northbound Ocoee Apopka Road at S.R. 438.

In related business, four of the five commissioners voted to approve contracting with the firm of Shepard, Smith & Cassady, P.A., of Maitland, to provide hearing officer services. The firm will be paid about $6,000 annually to hear appeals and render decisions related to red-light traffic violations administered through the city’s traffic light safety program.

The city’s current contract for these services with attorney Fred Wilsen took effect in August 2013 and expires Oct. 1. Commissioner Wilsen, who is married to Fred Wilsen, abstained from voting on the new contract.