Shackled by a $3.6 billion deficit and 11.1 percent unemployment rate, Floridians need legislators to focus on filling the state’s fiscal gap and putting citizens back to work.  Instead, however, Tallahassee has become distracted by red light safety cameras – a frivolous issue that is unrelated to the primary concern of taxpayers, the economy.

In 2010, the state began allowing safety cameras to be set up at red lights as a means to help protect pedestrians, bikers and drivers.  According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), 676 Americans were killed in 2009 and approximately 130,000 were injured in crashes that involved red light running.  Safety cameras have proven to reduce these numbers.

In fact, large cities with safety cameras have a 24 percent lower fatal red light running crash rate than cities without access to such technologies.   Additionally, IIHS found cameras have reduced red light violations and crashes by as much as 96 percent.

Despite the proven benefits of these cameras and a struggling state budget, the repeal of Florida’s red light safety camera law has moved to the center of the legislative debates.  Certainly, no one enjoys getting a ticket and fine in the mail for running a red light, but these can easily be avoided if a driver obeys local traffic laws and stops at the red light.

Ideally, safety cameras would produce zero revenue for the state, as the law would be abided by all drivers.  Nonetheless, for as long as drivers continue to run red lights, revenues will be generated.  In fact, over the course of the last year, the safety cameras accounted for more than $70 million worth of revenue in Florida – money that did not have to be earned through taxes.  These revenues enabled trauma research and hospitals to be funded without placing a heavier burden on taxpayers at a time when family budgets are already tight.

Additionally, the red-light safety cameras enable law enforcement agencies to do more with less.  Especially in today’s crippling economy, it is critical that efficiency is optimized and costs minimized through new technologies such as safety cameras at red lights.

Floridians need their legislators to focus on initiatives that stimulate the economy, lessen the state’s burden on taxpayers, and improve the job creation environment for employers – items that are not being addressed while Tallahassee is distracted by a proposed repeal of the law allowing red light safety cameras.

The legislative session is drawing to a close and Florida workers and taxpayers simply can’t afford inaction on issues like the budget and unemployment.  I urge state legislators to remain focused on the imperative economic policy debates at hand and work to unshackle Florida taxpayers from the burdens of a deficit-ridden state.