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Adams administration asks Albany for more red-light cameras
By
Jon Campbell
Published Mar 4, 2024
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Photo credit should read LOIC VENANCE/AFP via Getty Images
By
Jon Campbell
Published Mar 4, 2024
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Mayor Eric Adams’ administration took its push for more red-light cameras to the state Capitol on Monday, advocating for legislation that would extend the city’s existing program and expand it to 10% of the city’s intersections.
City Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez traveled to Albany to meet with key lawmakers on the state Legislature’s transportation committees, all in hopes of convincing them to pass a law extending the city’s authority to operate red-light cameras — which is set to expire Dec. 1.
“I’m here in Albany today with one clear message: Red-light cameras save lives,” Rodriguez said at a news conference on the Capitol’s Million Dollar Staircase. “Each year in New York City, there are far too many injuries and fatalities involving red-light running.”
Under state law, localities have to get Albany’s permission to operate automated cameras that ticket drivers for running red lights. No city has done that dance more than New York City.
The state first authorized the use of red-light cameras in New York City in the late 1980s, making it the first municipality in the country with such ability. The so-called pilot program launched at a limited number of intersections in 1994 — and state lawmakers have reauthorized it on a temporary basis eight times since then, most recently in 2019.
Still, after 30 years, the city’s program remains very limited.
Under state law, only 150 of the city’s 13,250 intersections with traffic signals are allowed to have a red-light camera. The Adams administration is pushing two bills to change that.
The first would extend the law authorizing red-light cameras through Dec. 1, 2030 and allow them at 1,325 intersections, or 10% of the city’s total. The second would target repeat offenders, allowing the Department of Motor Vehicles to suspend the license of any vehicle that racks up five red-light camera violations within a 12-month period.
State Senate Deputy Majority Leader Mike Gianaris (D-Queens), the lead sponsor of the second bill, said the “verdict is in on red-light cameras.”
Data from the city shows the average number of tickets issued by the cameras has dropped from an average of 30.8 per intersection when they launched in 1994 to 7 in 2021, which suggests motorists have adjusted their red-light-running habits.
“They work, they save lives, they prevent crashes,” Gianaris said. “So why would we want to risk them expiring at the end of this year?”
Gianaris and Rodriguez were joined at the press conference by a handful of Democratic lawmakers from the city who support the bills, including Sens. John Liu and Andrew Gounardes and Assemblymembers Jo Anne Simon, Harvey Epstein and Brian Cunningham.
But neither bill is a slam dunk this year.
Since the pilot program’s launch in 1994, it has only expanded intermittently, launching with 15 cameras in 1994 to today’s 222 cameras at 150 intersections. Gov. Kathy Hochul also hasn’t weighed in publicly on the two city-supported bills, though she’s been supportive of past efforts to expand cameras that catch speeders in city school zones.
Simon and Liu both preemptively responded to critics who paint red-light cameras as a cash grab. The fine for a caught-on-camera violation is $50, and the city received a net revenue of $14 million to $23 million annually in the years leading up to the COVID pandemic from the fines, according to city data.
“If you think this is a revenue raising measure, starve us,” Simon said. “We don't want to raise any revenue at all. We want you to stop at a red light.”
Tagged
new york city
public safety
Politics
transportation
eric adams
Jon Campbell
Jon Campbell covers the New York State Capitol for WNYC and Gothamist. Prior to that, he covered the Capitol for more than a decade for the USA TODAY Network. He has twice earned the Walter T. Brown Memorial Award, an honor given annually by the Legislative Correspondents Association alumni for outstanding state government coverage. Jon grew up in the Buffalo area and graduated from the University at Albany. Got a tip? Email Jon at [email protected] or Signal at JonCampbellNY.90.
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