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BY SUSAN BROWN
sbrown@nwitimes.com
219.836.3780 | Sunday, June 08, 2008 | (2 comment(s))
HAMMOND | City leaders last week entered the murky world Indiana lawmakers have faced for years on the question of the legality of red light cameras.
The Hammond City Council on Monday voted 7-2 in favor of installing the cameras at six city intersections. The ordinance next requires the signature of Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr.
If signed, Hammond will become the first community in the state to authorize using red light cameras though the General Assembly has a history of wrestling with the issue.
"There's a lot of controversy," said state Sen. Frank Mrvan Jr., D-Hammond, citing privacy issues as a particular rub. "It's a real tricky situation. There's more than one way this will be challenged. They should prepare themselves for litigation."
Mrvan said after years of the House shooting down any attempt to legislate the issue, resolutions from both the House and the Senate have assigned the question to this summer's study committee.
Six years ago, Fort Wayne, the state's second largest city, came close to being the first community in the state to authorize the cameras, which capture license plate numbers of cars caught running red lights.
As did Hammond, Fort Wayne limited the cameras to local streets, avoiding state and federal highways where they may not be installed under state law, and aimed to treat the citations as parking tickets.
But after considerable time and effort, city leaders, believing they needed a change in state law, decided to take a wait-and-see stance after testifying in 2002 at a Senate subcommittee. The bill later died, city spokeswoman Rachel Blakeman said last week.
City Engineer David Ross said Fort Wayne officials also had concerns about the accuracy of the outside vendor it was considering and whether the traffic lights would be changed to ease fining people.
In addition, the city was confronted with its attorneys saying the law required the citations to go through court as moving violations. City Council members reportedly don't want to subject motorists to penalties associated with moving violations, which include court costs and points against the driver's license.
Under the ordinance passed in Hammond last week, violations will be treated as parking tickets unless contested, at which point they enter the court system as moving violations, increasing the $100 fine to $211 and incurring driving points.
Processing tickets is a common stumbling block, according to Ann Sweet, a Warsaw woman who entered the fray in 1997 after her 21-year-old daughter, Shawnee, was killed by a trucker who ran a red light.
Sweet is a founder of the National Campaign to Stop Red Light Running and is the national survivor spokeswoman for the organization. "Our biggest thrust is education and getting legislation passed," she said. "Nothing is a perfect solution, but photo enforcement is a better solution than any other I know of."
Legislation regarding the use of red light cameras as a remedy varies nationwide, resulting in class action lawsuits and constitutional challenges. Two states, New Jersey and Wisconsin, have prohibited their use under any circumstances, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Gary Assistant City Attorney Carl Jones said his city's interest in red light cameras is on hold because it has questions regarding their legality.
Within the last 30 days, the city has contacted the office of state Sen. Earline Rogers to ask the Indiana attorney general's office to render an opinion before it tries to create a local ordinance, Jones said.
Staci Schneider, spokeswoman for Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter, said no inquiry or request was received from Hammond.
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bill wrote on Jun 8, 2008 12:02 PM:
RR wrote on Jun 8, 2008 11:53 AM: