Red light cameras in Arnold, Missouri just took a hit that will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars a year at one light alone. Fox 2 first reported Wednesday about a new MoDOT program to re-time of its Missouri lights.

MoDO is re-timing traffic lights everywhere, to give drivers more time to stop. The results so far, are incredible at the intersection of 141 and Astra Way. We compared a month of red light running before the new signal timing to a month after the change in the yellow light.

Last May, the City of Arnold cited 709 people for running a red light on camera at the 141 light. This May? Arnold cited only 17 drivers at the same light.

Now, consider the money side of this. Last May's citations add up to $67,000 in one month. This past May, citations, if paid, would only bring in $1,600.

That's a potential loss of more than 3/4 of a million dollars every year.

That loss is split between three parties who divide the money from each $95 violation ticket. More than half of that pie (57%) would go to the city, 10% percent to the State of Missouri and 1/3rd (33%) to the private red light camera contractor American Traffic Solutions (ATS).

Arnold Mayor Ron Counts said their share of the money goes into the general fund, which pays for things like streets. But he says this newly discovered potential loss -- is a price worth paying.

Mayor Counts said, "The truth is, it's not about money, it can't be. We've got to deal with the safety issue and to me when you can drop this down to 20 people running stop lights, I think that's what we really need to be looking at. We'll adjust the budget. We have to." He added, "It's going to affect your budget no matter how you look at it

He said Arnold's been discussing putting red light revenue strictly into safety measures anyway. He can't think of anything better than stopping red light runners.

Counts said, "What's a persons life worth? I don't think you can consider that."

The private red light camera contractor, ATS, said in an e-mail statement, "We're pleased the number of violations in Arnold continues to fall. An effective road safety program must always integrate engineering, education and enforcement." However ATS also warns ".. studies have shown that if the amber light is too long, drivers will disregard it and consider it part of the green light cycle."

MoDOT adds -- the drastic drop in red light runners may not last. Engineers warn that driver's could start pushing the new timing cycles. They also say that longer yellows slow down traffic.

State Map	Red Light Camera Fine $	Red Light Camera Points	Speed Camera Fine $	Speed Camera Points
Alabama	$50
Arizona	$180	no Points	$250-$250	2-3 Points
Arkansas	$50
California	$446	1 Point
Colorado	$90	4 Points	$40-80	4 Points
Delaware	$75-$230
District of Columbia	$75	2 Points	$75	2 Points
Florida	$75-$125
Georgia	$70	3 Points
Hawaii	$77
Illinois	$100	20 Points	$250 or 25	20 points
Indiana	$100
Iowa	$45-$150		$45-$150
Kansas	$100
Louisiana	$100-$140	No Points
Maryland	$100	2 Points	$40 - $1,000	No Points
Michigan	$100
Minnesota	$130
Mississippi	$100
Missouri	$100
Nevada	$600-$1,000	4 Points
New Jersey	$75	No Points
New Mexico	$70-$250		$70-$250
New York	$50-$100	3 Points
North Carolina	$75-$100	3 Points
Ohio	$100-$200		$100-$200
Oklahoma	$100
Oregon	$355		$355
Pennsylvania	$100	3 Points
Rhode Island	$85
South Dakota	$89	No Points
Tennessee	$50-$100		$50-$100
Texas	$75-$200	No Points	$75-$200
Virginia	$100 - $200	4 Points
Washington	$124		$124
West Virginia
Wisconsin	$75

Please make suggested updates of information in the comments section below.

A growing percentage of drivers caught by red-light cameras around town aren't paying their tickets. But beyond sending their names to a collection agency, there's little the city of Columbus can do to collect that money.   Nearly $1.6 million in Columbus, Missouri much of which would go to the city's public-safety department. The department has used these fines to pay for new police cruisers and the city's summer-crime strike force.

Last year, 28 percent of all red-light-camera citations issued by Columbus were sent to a collection agency, up from 12 percent in 2007. Part of any funds collected now would go to the collection agency and Redflex, which operates the cameras for the city. The poor economy might be one reason why drivers aren't paying, said Deputy Public Safety Director George Speaks. A $95 ticket is a big hit.  But once your ticket is sent to a collection agency, the fine grows to $120. If you don't pay, the city will send you a notice. After 90 days, your case is sent to Capital Recovery, a collection agency. Running a red light is a civil infraction that doesn't add points to your license.

Capital Recovery collects about 17 percent of the delinquent violations the city sends its way, said Craig Klein, the company's president. He said the national collection rate in civil cases such as these is less than 10 percent. "The only way to attack it is to file lawsuits," Klein said. But that would likely cost the city more than it's worth, said City Attorney Richard C. Pfeiffer. If the problem grows, he'll consider it. Speaks said city officials are discussing reporting scofflaws to credit agencies.

Stephanie Palmer, a victims advocate in Pfeiffer's office, has three unpaid tickets. Two offenses were captured by the camera at Livingston and Fairwood avenues. The tickets say Palmer didn't stop completely before turning on red. "I'm not sure if I didn't come to a complete stop," she said. "Usually I'm pretty good." In all, there are 169 individuals, companies and agencies with three or more outstanding citations, totaling close to 900 unpaid tickets.

The biggest offender is the holding company for Avis and Budget rental cars. That company is responsible for 144 unpaid tickets. University Area Commissioner Ahmed Ebady has five unpaid tickets. He said contractors who maintain his residential properties and drive vehicles registered in his name must be responsible. "If the city is going to come after me for a moving violation, let them come up with proof who was driving," Ebady said.

Speaks said the cameras reduce crashes. He said right-angle crashes have fallen by 73 percent at the 18 intersections where cameras have been installed. "The system works," he said.

Photo enforcement of illegal right turns is starting to become very popular among city's. Illegal right turns are made when a sign clearly states "no right on red" or "after stop a right turn is permitted on red."  Illegal rolling right turns are when a driver does not come to a "complete stop" before making the turn. Illegal right turns are when the driver makes a right turn on red regardless if they camer to a complete stop.  Its a very grey area what a complete stop is but I have been told its anything under 7MPH.    We would appreciate any feedback from drivers around the Country to clarify this below under comments.

City's are using traditional red light camera technology and you can get a photo enforced ticket for an illegal right turn and they are cash cows.  Its by far the biggest money maker for most cities.   The fines in California are $159 and right turn cameras are also being used in Missouri $100), Tenessee ($100), Texas ($75) and Maryland ($75).

These right turn photo enforced intersections often surprise drivers because there are not very many intersections currently regulated. These intersections usually prevent drivers from turning right who might have limited visibility 0t mighy be moving at a speed that is unsafe. I still haven't figured out why rolling right turns are such a big deal that they have to be photo enforced. Its possible that bikers or pedestrians often are frequenting the sidewalks or streets and the cities want drivers to be extra cautious.

Columbia Missourian Article:  October, 27, 2009 - Red light camera laws differ from city to city and state to state in the U.S.   Below is a map of the states that use red light camera photo enforcement currently and example of just how complex and different laws can be in only one state Missouri. You can only imagine the complexity when trying to figure out what is "standard operating procedure" which is a question we get often. Hence, the primary problem we were trying to solve when we created the PhotoEnforced.com crowd sourcing database in 2001.

More than 17 Missouri cities operate red-light cameras, but the financing and enforcement of them does not operate uniformly. The two main differences that vary from city to city deal with the criteria for citations and the payment to the companies owning and operating the cameras.

For citations, some cities like Columbia require that there be a photo of the driver of the car and the car itself that runs a red light, while other cities like Kansas City just need photos of the car and license plate. When it comes to payments, the fine amount varies from city to city, as does the amount each company receives.

In Kansas City, American Traffic Solutions owns and operates the red-light cameras. The company receives $4,500 per month per camera from the city as long as the money raised exceeds that amount. Since implementation in January, American Traffic Solutions has invoiced Kansas City $520,000 from 37,726 violations for their 29 cameras, according to a Kansas City Public Works release.

St. Louis also uses American Traffic Solutions, and the company also owns and operates cameras there. In St. Louis, the company receives $31.33 for each $100 citation issued, according to Ron Smith, executive director for city operations. Since the cameras were installed in May 2007, the company has collected $3.1 million from 102,859 paid citations, Smith said.

While the payment process for Kansas City and St. Louis differ, the methods of data collection, installation and maintenance of the cameras are the same, Jason Norton, American Traffic Solutions' regional manager, said. For each city, temporary cameras are installed for eight to 24 hours in order for the company and city to study which intersections cause the most problems. From there, the company installs the cameras without charge to the cities.

In order to issue a citation, the company takes two photos — one before a vehicle enters an intersection and another in the intersection — as well as a 12-second video of the car. The video, Norton said, is to make sure there are no extenuating circumstances forcing a car into the intersection that aren't caught on the photos. After reviewing the information and enlarging the license plate in the photo, the information is sent to the licensing office and local police department for further review.

"The beauty of the system is that the camera is objective," Norton said. "No matter who you are, you get a ticket."

While the process is similar in Columbia, information given to the owner and city differs.

According to Gatso USA President and co-founder Andrew Noble, the company's cameras in Columbia are "unique" in what they offer to a city. Noble said his company's violation notices present the owner with photos of the driver and vehicle along with a 17-point data bar with information such as time the light has been red, time of day, date and how long the yellow light was.

Sen. Jason Crowell, R-Cape Girardeau, has said his biggest issue with red-light cameras deals with payments to the companies. Crowell said he has a problem with systems like those in place in St. Louis and Columbia, where a percentage of each ticket goes to the company. For Crowell, that leaves no other contingencies for other policing tools.

Noble said companies like his earn that money because they front the funds needed for initial installation and maintenance. According to him, each camera installed at an intersection costs Gatso USA $100,000, which comes at no cost to the city. American Traffic Solutions operates under a similar system where each camera can cost anywhere from $80,000 to $100,000 to create, install and maintain, Norton said.

The cameras are an asset for the cities, Smith said, because they promote safety.

In St. Louis, the red-light cameras have been a "good public safety initiative to make our intersections safer," Smith said, and data has already shown a marked improvement in the city when it comes to running red lights.

A similar sentiment is echoed by Kansas City Mayor Mark Funkhouser.

"The idea is to prevent or reduce the number of accidents at intersections," he said, but also added that cameras have highlighted the massive amount of disregard for red lights that currently exists.

Funkhouser said that while there may be bugs in the system that need to be worked out, he is pleased with the results.

St. Louis nears $10 million in red light fines Belleville News-Democrat

Nearly 30 months (2.5 years) since red light cameras began operating in St. Louis, the city is closing in on $10 million in fines collected at $100 per ticket which is approximately 100,000 violations if I am doing the math correctly.  The population in St. Louis is approximately 991,830 according to public data sources which would give you a 10% chance of getting a red light camera ticket in the last 2.5 years.

KMOX Radio reports the city has collected $9.9 million in fines since the use of cameras began in May 2007. After paying the camera vendor its share the city's net gain has been $6.8 million. Opponents say red light cameras can cause as many accidents as they prevent. But city officials say the cameras pay off both in terms of safety and revenue Mayor Francis Slay's operations director, Ron Smith, says citations for some intersections are down 85 percent from two years ago as drivers have become aware of the cameras.  We count about 62 cameras that have been published on our map below St. Louis, Missouri Red Light Camera Map

City of St. Louis Red Light Camera Ticket Information

In the City of St. Louis, the fine is $100 for running a red light. To pay a ticket, you must mail payment or bring it in person to 1430 Olive Street, Room 100, St. Louis, MO 63103. Payment must be in the form of check or money order if you are mailing it. If you bring it in person, you may pay by cash, check, credit card or money order.

PhotoEnforced.com today added a new category of photo enforcement "Right Turn Cameras" to compliment our growing list of "red light cameras" and "speed cameras." As of today we have added 44 locations where illegal right turns are photo enforced from around the U.S. and will be adding many more as the data starts to trickle in from users.

We are starting to see a growing number of right turn cameras popping-up around the U.S. that use traditional red light camera technology to enforce illegal right turns. These new cameras are typically enforcing illegal right turns red or rolling right turns. Illegal rolling right turns are when a driver does not come to a complete stop before making the turn. Illegal right turns are when the driver makes a right turn on red regardless if they camer to a complete stop. The fines in California are $159 and right turn cameras are also being used in Missouri $100), Tenessee ($100), Texas ($75) and Maryland ($75).

These right turn photo enforced intersections often surprise drivers because there are not very many intersections currently regulated. These intersections usually prevent drivers from turning right who might have limited visibility 0t mighy be moving at a speed that is unsafe. I still haven't figured out why rolling right turns are such a big deal that they have to be photo enforced. Its possible that bikers or pedestrians often are frequenting the sidewalks or streets and the cities want drivers to be extra cautious.

Speeding fines are the same whether motorists are stopped by a deputy or get a citation in the mail through the photo radar program. Fines are $135 for exceeding the speed limit by 10 mph; $183 for 11-15 mph; $202 for 16-20 mph; $222 for 21-25; $235 for 26-30 mph; and $356 for 31-45 mph. Drivers could be arrested for going more than 46 mph over the posted limit. Photo enforced locations are set to trigger a picture flash for 11 MPH over the speeding limit.

Arizona leads all U.S. States with a total of 51 active photo enforced speed camera locations that are currently in our database. From this we can reasonably assume that Arizona has nearly 1/3 of all speed cameras that currently exist in the U.S. Here is a summary of our current totals that are in our database.

State	#	%
Arizona	51	30.00%
Maryland	21	12.35%
Ohio	16	9.41%
Washington	16	9.41%
California	15	8.82%
New Mexico	10	5.88%
District of Columbia	9	5.29%
Tennessee	8	4.71%
Iowa	7	4.12%
New York	3	1.76%
Missouri	2	1.18%
North Carolina	2	1.18%
Colorado	2	1.18%
Florida	1	0.59%
Georgia	1	0.59%
Idaho	1	0.59%
Pennsylvania	1	0.59%
Texas	1	0.59%
Utah	1	0.59%
Virginia	1	0.59%
Delaware	1	0.59%
	170

Do you feel like you drove through a light with an extra short yellow? Did you know there are laws and DOT recommendations that require yellow lights to be at least 3.5 seconds. Six cities have already been caught shortening yellow lights by .3 to 1 seconds. 6 cities have been caught: 1) Dallas, Texas 2) Chattanooga, Tennessee 3) Springfield, Missouri 4) Lubbock, Texas 5) Nashville, Tennessee 6) Union City, California.

I would suspect there are many other cities in violation including a city near me Culver City. I would love to get some user input if they think their city has a short yellow light. Time the light the next time you are waiting at a stop light and post it here under comments. Thanks in advance for your help!

See this detailed article!

Redflex - 1494 Cameras with $50M in Revenue 2008, Redflex Traffic Systems is the longest consistently-operating company in the photo enforcement industry. The company, with operations based in Arizona USA and Australia. http://www.redflex.com As the industry leader, Redflex has more contracts in more states than any other vendor. Public safety programs range from those in smaller cities with only a few camera installations to larger cities where red light or speed-enforcement cameras are employed at dozens of intersections. The REDFLEXred® and REDFLEXspeed® photo enforcement technology innovated at Redflex provide unsurpassed accuracy in reducing red light- and speed- related traffic collisions. Statistics in most Redflex-protected cities show significant reductions in most collisions, injuries and costs associated with unlawful driving.

ATS - 1000 Cameras with $40M in Revenue 2008. American Traffic Solutions, Inc. (ATS) is a leading provider of technology and business solutions for photo traffic safety and electronic toll enforcement programs worldwide. Our President and CEO, James Tuton, pioneered the automated photo traffic enforcement industry in the United States, with the first speed-camera program implemented in Paradise Valley, Arizona in 1987. The red-light camera industry followed nearly 10 years later. As the market has matured and grown, so has ATS. ATS has grown more than 500% since 2003 and is now the largest provider of traffic enforcement programs to America’s big cities including: New York City, New York; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Washington, D.C.; St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri; San Diego, California; Seattle, Washington; Houston, Fort Worth, Irving and Arlington, Texas; New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and Phoenix, Tucson, Mesa, Glendale and Scottsdale, Arizona. ATS also provides Canada’s largest digital red-light camera and speed enforcement program in Calgary, Alberta. ATS serves more than 125 municipalities and government agencies (both large and small) with red-light and speed camera enforcement programs. We have installed nearly 1,000 cameras around the country, with hundreds more in various planning stages.

Nestor - 400 Cameras
ACS - 300 Cameras

RedSpeed - 300 Cameras
Laser Craft - 250 Cameras

Gatso - 250 Cameras and big in Europe

Traffipax -
Transol -
Peek Traffic -