Frisco’s last red-light camera on Preston Road and Gaylord Parkway has been shut off following the June 1 passage of House Bill 1631 into law, Frisco police Deputy Chief David Shilson said in a statement. Read the full article at Community Impact Newspaper.
Red-light cameras are being shut down across Texas following Gov. Greg Abbott’s signing of House Bill 1631 on June 1–and cities across the state, such as Tomball and Magnolia, are also seeing hundreds of thousands of dollars in budget losses by the passage of HB 1631, city officials said. HB 1631 prohibits the use of photographic traffic signal enforcement systems, the bill reads. Read the full article at Comunity Impact Newspaper.
A pilot project testing the effects of increasing the yellow warning time at intersections continues to demonstrate positive results in Denton, Texas. In April 2018, the city decided to appease red light camera critics by adding a second of yellow time to the photo enforced intersection of West Oak Street and North Carroll Boulevard. To the surprise of city staff, the 62 percent reduction in violations that began the day the timing was extended has lasted for ten months.
Some Texas lawmakers are seeking to outlaw the use of red-light cameras, which have generated nearly $2 million since 2008 for traffic safety-related projects in the city of Southlake. The city has a contract through May 2024 for four cameras installed along Southlake Boulevard. Neither Grapevine nor Colleyville uses red-light cameras. At least three bills filed in the Texas Legislature seek to outright ban these and similar devices or further regulate them.
“The people of Texas have … had enough,” said state Rep. Jonathan Stickland, R-Bedford, who filed one of the bills. “It’s time that we protect the rights of Texans and finally ban red light cameras.” Read the full article at Star Telegram.
Texas lawmakers are taking steps to keep newly re-elected Governor Greg Abbott from fulfilling a major campaign promise. Abbott, formerly the state’s attorney general, made outlawing red light cameras a priority – even going so far as to specify that the contracts used by local jurisdictions must be legislatively preempted (view pledge). Two of the state legislature’s leaders last week prefiled legislation that would protect the ability of local jurisdictions to continue using red light cameras for as long as they wish.
Last week the disabled Red Light Cameras along Texas Highway 35 were removed. Read the full article at Port Lavaca Wave.
One Texas Senator believes that red light cameras could be a thing of the past following the upcoming session of the Texas Legislature. Read the full article at The Amarillo Pioneer.
Scandal plagued school bus camera company forced to pay legal fees of competitor after overplaying legal hand. Read the full article at TheNewspaper.com.
Red light cameras did nothing to improve safety during the years they were used in Houston, Texas. That was the conclusion of a recently published study by Case Western Reserve University economist Justin Gallagher and Paul Fisher, a graduate student at the University of Arizona. Their paper, published by the Social Science Research Network, covered twelve years’ worth of accident data at photo enforced intersections in Houston and Dallas.
