New Jersey bill would shield drivers from ticket camera enforcement

A renewed pursuit at the New Jersey statehouse is intended to limit the effect of red-light and speed cameras.

The Garden State does not employ the use of ticket cameras. Other states in the Northeast, however, do use automated enforcement methods.

Sen. Declan O’Scanlon, R-Monmouth, said New Jersey lawmakers rejected automated enforcement because there is no safety benefit.

“We recognized that this equipment makes no one any safer but does serve to enrich the corrupt companies that peddle this nonsense as well as the governments, state and local, that permit the fleecing of their residents,” O’Scanlon said in written testimony to the Senate Law and Public Safety Committee.

‘BS’ ticketing

Titled the “Camera Enforcement Inoculation Act,” O’Scanlon’s ticket camera legislation would prohibit the state’s Motor Vehicle Commission from providing identifying information for New Jersey licensed drivers to camera enforcement entities in other states.

The bill, S460, is modeled after a South Dakota law that prohibits the state from sharing information with other states for the collection of civil fines that result from camera tickets.

“Traffic programs in other states are just as bad, or worse, than those we rejected in New Jersey,” O’Scanlon said.

“For those who suggest ‘Don’t speed or run red lights, and you won’t get tickets,’ I call BS. These systems only make money when safety and engineering criteria regarding yellow light times and speed limits are ignored.”

The Senate Law and Public Safety Committee voted unanimously to advance O’Scanlon’s bill.

Feds support ticket programs

New federal guidance from earlier this year authorizes states to tap billions for roadway safety programs.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has unveiled plans to address a record increase in traffic deaths on the nation’s highways. Automated ticket cameras were included among the tools identified to aid reducing fatalities.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s national roadway safety strategy addresses the administration’s goal for the program.

“Automated speed enforcement, if deployed equitably and applied appropriately to roads with the greatest risk of harm due to speeding, can provide significant safety benefits and save lives.” LL

More Land Line coverage of news from New Jersey.