Village considers green-lighting cameras at red lights

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
South Orange officials are interested in using cameras to ticket motorists for red-light violations.
They say they need to make the roads of the village safer.
“We’ve been talking about this for probably two years,” said Trustee Michael Goldberg, chairman of the Public Safety Committee.
In the coming months, the village will solicit proposals from vendors who install and implement such systems. The village also will research the results in the other New Jersey communities that have red-light cameras.
But only the state Department of Transportation can give municipalities permission to install them, said Tim Greeley, a DOT spokesman.
“They need to be authorized through us,” he said.
A camera was tested at South Orange Avenue and Scotland Road this year, showing more than 100 violations during a 24-hour span, according to South Orange Police Chief James M. Chelel.
“I think it’s a good thing to put in place,” Chelel said.
He said he would want to use the cameras to ticket motorists for running red lights and for making illegal turns on red. Currently, cameras are approved only for running lights.
“We need traffic calming,” Levison said. “We have found people running red lights.”
Officials have not decided where to locate the cameras, though Chelel raised the possibility of busy intersections.
Goldberg noted that all the traffic lights in town are on county roads. He said the county might have to give permission and possibly get a share of ticket revenue. Officials said there would be oversight.
A police officer will review each recorded incident to determine if a violation occurred before a ticket was mailed to the registered owner of the vehicle. The ticket carries an $85 fine, but no points, Chelel said.
But that raises the chance of motorists getting a ticket for a violation committed by someone using their car.
Chelel said the law requires the owner of the car to come forward with that person or pay the fine.
While speeding is the complaint officials hear most from residents, New Jersey law does not allow police to use cameras for speeding enforcement.
In 2008, New Jersey created a five-year pilot program. The state Department of Transportation selected three municipalities, Newark, East Brunswick and Brick, to be the first in the “Red Light Running Camera Program.”
At the time, the state said cameras would be installed at locations “that have a demonstrated history of violations and accidents related to red-light running that has not been reduced by previous engineering, enforcement and education efforts.”
Since then, 21 municipalities have been approved for red-light cameras, but only five have them up and running, Greeley said.
Newark was the first city to install them, with Brick, Glassboro, Deptford and Linden rounding out the list. Each has to report results to the state every 12 months.
“Five years after the initial enactment of the Red Light Running automated enforcement program, NJDOT will evaluate the data gathered from individual intersections in order to evaluate whether the program should continue,” Greeley wrote in a subsequent e-mail.
A 2007 study by the Virginia Transportation Research Council looked at the impact of red-light cameras on safety in six Northern Virginia communities.
With data gleaned from 1998 to 2004, experts said they found a 42 percent decrease in red-light crashes. Yet they also reported a 27 percent increase in rear-end crashes.
Levison said there would be signs warning motorists that there were cameras at the lights. Chelel thinks with greater awareness, there would be a reduction in running red lights and rear-end accidents.
Philip Sean Curran can be reached at 908-686-7700, ext. 116, or at newsrecord@thelocalsource.com.