Smile, you're a red-light runner

A camera is recording drivers running the traffic light at Maitland Avenue and Marion Way. But violators won’t receive $158 citations until the first week of January.

An additional six cameras are planned to watch over Maitland intersections within one year — most along the busy thoroughfares of Orlando Avenue (Highway 17-92) and Maitland Boulevard.

That means it’s not just impacting Maitland residents, Mayor Doug Kinson said, because residents make up only 20 percent of the traffic on Orlando Avenue.

“Eighty percent are trying to get from where they live north of Maitland to where they’re going to work,” he said, “which is generally through Maitland in as quick a time as they possibly can.”

The cameras, pending Florida Department of Transportation approval, will be placed on Orlando Avenue at the intersections of Lake and Horatio Avenues and on Maitland Boulevard at the intersections of Maitland Avenue, Interstate 4 and Lake Destiny and Keller roads. Winter Park is also moving toward a camera monitoring system.

The camera on Maitland Avenue and Marion Way began its 30-day warning period this week. There is a sign on each side of the intersection to alert drivers, Lieutenant John Schardine said. Come January, $158 citations will be issued to violators caught in the intersection on a red.

The main goal of the cameras is to increase safety, Kinson said.

“The intent is to make our community safer, and almost a byproduct of making the community safer … is we make a few dollars on it,” Kinson said.

The city will pay vendor Gatso USA a monthly fee of $4,600 per camera. Originally, the city was going to pay the vendor a portion of each ticket that was issued, $30, but an ordinance approved by the Florida Legislature in May prohibits a per-violation fee.

“When we looked at the numbers and compared the amount of money that the city is paying, it’s a savings to the city,” Maitland Police Chief Doug Ball said at the Nov. 22 City Council meeting.

In order for each camera to pull in $4,600 a month, 64 tickets must be issued and paid, he said.

The City Council approved an amendment to their red-light ordinance at that meeting so if the camera revenues don’t cover the vendor’s fee, then the balance will be waived.

But Ball doesn’t think they’ll have a problem paying the vendor. When they studied the intersections, there were about 25 violations at one intersection during an eight-hour span, he said.

Once all seven intersections’ cameras are online, he expects about 4,375 violations per month.

The city takes about $73 of each $158 violation. The state gets $70 — $100 if the camera is on a state road — the trauma centers $10, and the Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Trust Fund gets $3. About $2 goes to the cost of mailing the tickets.

Once the city pays the vendor, it should net about $287,000 per month — at first. Historically, once drivers get one or two tickets, they change their behavior and violations drop off significantly. That’s OK with Ball.

“Our goal is to reduce accidents and keep folks from running red lights in the first place. … Our goal is to get to the point where it’s not cost effective to have the cameras there,” he said.