They have prompted a lot of debate and even a few lawsuits, but red light cameras in Florida are just one step away from getting full government approval.

State senators have sent the bill to Gov. Charlie Crist, outlining how red light cameras are to be used and where the money will go.

Some of the first red light cameras in the Sunshine State went live in Flagler County in May 2008. Since then, authorities have caught thousands of drivers running red lights at six intersections in Palm Coast.

If the governor signs the new law, more cameras could pop up all across Florida.

Drivers caught running a red light in Palm Coast are fined $125, with no points added to their insurance. It’s considered a code violation, like getting a parking ticket.

City leaders said they have collected about $1.5 million in fines.

From each ticket, $40 goes to American Traffic Solutions, the company that installed the cameras. So in the end, the city has only seen just over $1 million from the fines.

That money is then turned around to fund road improvements.

Under the new state bill, the fine for running a red light would jump to $158, with $75 going to the state, and the rest to local governments.

Proponents have said the cameras save lives. Red light runners are blamed for about 100 deaths a year in Florida.

However, there have been a few lawsuits filed before the bill passed the legislature, and those fighting the cameras said they are simply moneymakers.

State economists who looked at the figures said the state could see $29 million in the first year, and nearly $95 million by the end of the 2014 budget year.

Local governments, who would also get a slice of the red-light pie, could get $10 million in year one, and up to $66 million by 2014.

One thing to consider: When Palm Coast’s cameras were first turned on, the city’s safety coordinator at the time said he expected to see the violations drop over time, as people get used to the cameras.

While safety may be the No. 1 priority, revenue may come in, but it may not be a constant stream over a long stretch of time.

http://www.cfnews13.com/News/Local/2010/4/28/red_light_cameras_await_governors_green_light.html

Lower levels of oxygen in the Earth’s oceans, particularly off the United States’ Pacific Northwest coast, could be another sign of fundamental changes linked to global climate change, scientists say.

They warn that the oceans’ complex undersea ecosystems and fragile food chains could be disrupted.

In some spots off Washington state and Oregon , the almost complete absence of oxygen has left piles of Dungeness crab carcasses littering the ocean floor, killed off 25-year-old sea stars, crippled colonies of sea anemones and produced mats of potentially noxious bacteria that thrive in such conditions.

Areas of hypoxia, or low oxygen, have long existed in the deep ocean. These areas — in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans — appear to be spreading, however, covering more square miles, creeping toward the surface and in some places, such as the Pacific Northwest , encroaching on the continental shelf within sight of the coastline.

“The depletion of oxygen levels in all three oceans is striking,” said Gregory Johnson , an oceanographer with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Seattle .

In some spots, such as off the Southern California coast, oxygen levels have dropped roughly 20 percent over the past 25 years. Elsewhere, scientists say, oxygen levels might have declined by one-third over 50 years.

“The real surprise is how this has become the new norm,” said Jack Barth , an oceanography professor at Oregon State University . “We are seeing it year after year.”

Barth and others say the changes are consistent with current climate-change models. Previous studies have found that the oceans are becoming more acidic as they absorb more carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

“If the Earth continues to warm, the expectation is we will have lower and lower oxygen levels,” said Francis Chan , a marine researcher at Oregon State .
Read more at Yahoo News

Big Brother Is Watching You
Here is Florida House Bill 325. From what I see on the state website, it appears that this Tuesday, March 9th from 9-12am the bill will be discussed in Morris Hall. (I could be wrong, please let me know if you find anything different) If this passes, the state will now be able to collect revenue off RLC fines. AND….i…f you have an unpaid Red Light Tickets, you won’t be able to get a new tag or renew your registration until it’s paid.

A few things the bill says and doesn’t say:

It says: 110 Cities 20 states currently use RLC’s (wikipedia says 400 cities, 26 in Florida)

Doesn’t say: Atleast 5 states have ruled RLC’s illegal and banned them, with many more considering a ban.

It says: “It is possible that the volume of rear end collisions will decline as drivers get used to the idea that the vehicle in front of them will stop at a red light” (seriously?)

Doesn’t Say: “It is possible that the volume of rear end collisions will INCREASE as more cameras are installed or that once more citizens get tickets, more people as a whole may hit the brakes at the last second.”

It says: “According to DHSMV, in 2008 76 deaths were caused by disregarding a traffic signal in Florida, representing 3% of traffic fatalities”

Doesn’t say: “In Lakeland, Florida alone during the first 266 days the cameras were installed at only 5 locations, Lakeland averaged over 80 tickets per day” Given Florida has 67 counties, this is just over 1 death per county per year, yet our 100,000 population city is tossing out more tickets per day than deaths in the entire state for a year!

It says: “During the 2008 legislative session a bill similar to 325 provided that local governments receive $30 per violation instead of $75 allowed by 325. The Florida League of cities noted at the time that capital and maintenance are significant and there are few if any vendors that would provide the systems at this price.”

Doesn’t say: “That most companies will install the camera systems completely free, for a cut of the ticket revenue. In Lakeland, each day the city needs more than 9 tickets to make any revenue. Those first 9 tickets go directly to ATS, the camera company. Since we get an average of 80 per day here, the price could decrease and still be very very profitable, esp if more cameras are installed in time.

It says: “The bill provides a grandfather clause for a period of 1 year for areas already using RLC’s and validates their actions in using them as is for the year after the bill is passed”

Doesn’t say: “Before this law bill was proposed, according to state statue 316 and 318, an officer must witness the infraction and they haven’t. And that at least 26 Florida cities installed the cameras by creating their own city ordinances as a loophole to get around the state law.”

More fun facts: Lakeland can’t issue a ticket to someone from out of state or who does not own property or a vehicle in the state.(can’t find my source, but read this the other day) This means the law is not treating everyone who runs red lights in our town equally to start.

If you get a red light ticket from an officer, you’d get points on your license and a higher fine no doubt. Would you have a lien put on your car or house, though?

Lakeland voted unanimously to install these cameras knowing that the Gov, attorney general and statues stated it was unethical. Remember this during our next election. We don’t need anyone in local, state or big boy government who looks for these types of loopholes to tax its citizens during an economy in our current condition.

And finally: In cities such as Lakeland, cameras currently can’t be placed at intersections that have state or federal highway designations. Meaning that the 80 tickets per day we get now, don’t come from the busiest or most dangerous intersections in Lakeland (wasn’t safety the main goal?). If this bill is passed, the number of tickets could double or even triple as cameras are installed at these intersections in time.

We have approx 400 cities in Florida. The largest, Jacksonville, has not installed any cameras to date. Lakeland will issue 3-4 million dollars in RLC tickets on its current pace for the year. As stated above, this could increase for many reasons in every city in the near future. If only 300 cities brought in 4 million a year, (or they all averaged out to 4 million, once many more cameras are installed in larger cities.) the citizens of Florida would pay approx 1.2 billion dollars a year in RLC fees. 75% or more for right on red turns, with large % of the money going to the camera companies and state under this bill.

Florida has 19 million residents and one of the largest tourism income of any state. To charge the residents a billion dollars a year to attempt to save 76 lives is absurd. We all want safer roads and feel for innocent people who are harmed by reckless driving but 76 fatalities in 2008 seems pretty low considering the amount of people on the roads everyday in Florida. There’s always going to be the people who run a red light on accident or not and we simple can’t prevent them all.

Please write your state senators and house members today/tomorrow and let them know how you feel. Laws are rarely overturned, esp. ones that make this amount of money. States like Minnesota were forced to refund 2.6 million dollars in RLC fines when their supreme court ruled them illegal a year ago.