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Red Light Cameras in Texas Are Now Banned

Vic Mackey

By Vic Mackey
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Vic Mackey

Vic Mackey 47,307

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454%20530%20HEAD1-RED%20LIGHT%20CAMERA_0

Governor Greg Abbott has officially signed legislation banning red light cameras across Texas.

House Bill 1631 prohibits the use of "photographic traffic signal enforcement systems." It was proposed by North Texas Rep. Jonathan Stickland (R-Bedford).

Gov. Abbott signed the bill on Saturday after it passed through the House and Senate this legislative session.

Even though red light cameras are now banned in the Lone Star State, you may continue to see them in some place for the next few years because the bill allows cities that could be penalized by suddenly breaking a vendor's contract to honor the contract until it expires.

 

 

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Vic Mackey

Vic Mackey 47,307

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2 hours ago, 3adays said:

I’ve run through so many of those I can’t count. In multiple states. I never got a ticket one. Were they even real? 

I live right by a red light camera intersection. I have gotten 2 my whole life. One at that intersection (claimed I did not come to a full stop at a red light before turning right) and another for turning left at a light. I got caught behind a car turning slower than I anticipated and I got stuck in the intersection. 

A question I have from the article was that you will still see these cameras at certain places across the states because of the vendor contracts and they will honor them until they expire. Does this mean they are still enforceable or they are just staying up? I'll be damned if I would pay a fine for something that is banned by law in this state. 

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Fuck Tim Beck

Fuck Tim Beck 3,855

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8 hours ago, NotActuallyALonghorn said:

Most of the cities with red light cameras don't have the engineering study required by law to put them in, so I guess you could challenge them in court.

This right here. And in the case of Killeen they were losing money. Only the camera company came out ahead. Shocking. 

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9 hours ago, Vic Mackey said:

I live right by a red light camera intersection. I have gotten 2 my whole life. One at that intersection (claimed I did not come to a full stop at a red light before turning right) and another for turning left at a light. I got caught behind a car turning slower than I anticipated and I got stuck in the intersection. 

A question I have from the article was that you will still see these cameras at certain places across the states because of the vendor contracts and they will honor them until they expire. Does this mean they are still enforceable or they are just staying up? I'll be damned if I would pay a fine for something that is banned by law in this state. 

It's not crystal clear, but it appears that with the change of the law that contracts may be void - for example, Fort Worth:

https://www.star-telegram.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article230697554.html

In Fort Worth, there are 58 red light cameras at 44 intersections. The city contracts with Verra Mobility, formerly known as American Traffic Solutions, to run the cameras.

An amendment added to the bill lets cities keep operating the cameras until their contracts with vendors expire. Fort Worth’s red light camera contract expires in 2026.

But Fort Worth residents may see the cameras disappear sooner than that. City attorney Sarah Fullenwider told the Star-Telegram earlier this week that the city’s contract with the vendor that operates the cameras would end as soon as Abbott signed the bill.

 

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Surly Bevo

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13 minutes ago, Homercles said:

I take it the lobbyists stopped donating? Glad this is happening but I’m sure it’s not just listening to science or constituents

This.  I bet a lot of municipalities also are finding the juice isn't worth the squeeze.  God knows what kind of stupid contracts a lot of them signed with these companies (2026, really Ft Worth, you signed up for that many years of this shit). Plus, think of all the money that gets spent on enforcing moving violations where there is you know actual due process taking place.  With these things anybody who knows anything is arguing the shit out of them, ignoring them etc just driving up the city's cost to deal with having them.

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Message Board User

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1 minute ago, Surly Bevo said:

This.  I bet a lot of municipalities also are finding the juice isn't worth the squeeze.  God knows what kind of stupid contracts a lot of them signed with these companies 2026 (really Ft Worth, you signed up for that many years of this shit) plus think of all the money that gets spent on enforcing moving violations where there is you know actual due process taking place.  With these things anybody who knows anything is arguing the shit out of them, ignoring them etc just driving up the city's cost to deal with having them.

I've read that for many cities the red light cameras haven't been the cash cow that they thought it would be - the fees these out of state companies are charging to operate the cameras plus the overtime that local police departments are spending on police officers to review the cameras are exorbitant.

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Surly Bevo

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And don't get me wrong.  I LOVE my government to be generally tough on "crime" but you know in ways that are consistent with the actual laws and governing principles of the land.  I've seen two wrecks over the years in Southlake that I strongly believe were related to those cameras and have had a buddy who was local, knew a light he was approaching was short shifted on the yellow hit his breaks to avoid the $75 and yea the person behind him just plowed on through fucking up his car and his back pretty good when he got rear ended on a street with a 45mph speed limit and a red light camera.  

 

And no I have never gotten one of these tickets.  My wife did once a few years back out of North Richland Hills.

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atomheartbevo

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2 hours ago, Homercles said:

I take it the lobbyists stopped donating? Glad this is happening but I’m sure it’s not just listening to science or constituents

Insurance lobbyists had more pull maybe.  I can’t see any insurance companies being happy with the proliferation of cameras.   

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Hagbard Celine

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4 hours ago, Surly Bevo said:

And don't get me wrong.  I LOVE my government to be generally tough on "crime" but you know in ways that are consistent with the actual laws and governing principles of the land.  I've seen two wrecks over the years in Southlake that I strongly believe were related to those cameras and have had a buddy who was local, knew a light he was approaching was short shifted on the yellow hit his breaks to avoid the $75 and yea the person behind him just plowed on through fucking up his car and his back pretty good when he got rear ended on a street with a 45mph speed limit and a red light camera.  

 

And no I have never gotten one of these tickets.  My wife did once a few years back out of North Richland Hills.

Short-cycling the lights is a known tactic to generate revenue.

I've had 3, but because they are a civil matter, standard business methods did away with them.

But I still hold the municipalities responsible for their theft of my time.

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Vic Mackey

Vic Mackey 47,307

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What is the exact law on red lights? I believe if you car is across the entire line when the light turned red, you're good. Now I'm not sure if that's how the cameras are programmed or not. Or if you are caught in the intersection at all while red, it will flash.

I've seen those fucking cameras flashing when not one single car has been in the intersection for over 5 seconds.

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po elvis

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3 hours ago, Vic Mackey said:

What is the exact law on red lights? I believe if you car is across the entire line when the light turned red, you're good. Now I'm not sure if that's how the cameras are programmed or not. Or if you are caught in the intersection at all while red, it will flash.

I've seen those fucking cameras flashing when not one single car has been in the intersection for over 5 seconds.

I have always gone by the idea that if you are across the line and in the intersection by the time it is red you are good. You don't have to be all the way through the intersection.

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TexMex Horn

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As a new poster, I found this topic interesting. Why do most people seem to despise these cameras? Is it because they don't think there should be a penalty to run a red light? Do these people also think other or all traffic law enforcement should be banned? I'm really curious

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Gene Parmesan

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31 minutes ago, TexMex Horn said:

As a new poster, I found this topic interesting. Why do most people seem to despise these cameras? Is it because they don't think there should be a penalty to run a red light? Do these people also think other or all traffic law enforcement should be banned? I'm really curious

I don't have the disdain for them that everyone else has.  The one near my house the intersection moves slower because no one runs through a yellow light, but it's not on my daily commute so I don't see it often.  I've never been popped by one.  I've heard stories about people turning right on red and getting them and it being a hassle to get it removed.  I also assume that that you get popped if you go through and it's yellow but turns red while your in the intersection. 

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Rimbo

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2 hours ago, TexMex Horn said:

As a new poster, I found this topic interesting. Why do most people seem to despise these cameras? Is it because they don't think there should be a penalty to run a red light? Do these people also think other or all traffic law enforcement should be banned? I'm really curious

As has been mentioned previously in the thread:

  • They are often illegally short-cycled in order to generate more tickets. That is, the yellow takes less time than it legally should.
  • Almost none of the cities that implemented them did the Engineering studies required in order to install them.
  • They were meant to be, and sold as, revenue-generating mechanisms for cities. They were not meant to make driving safer. Worse, they often failed to live up to even the revenue-generation promises.

 

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Dennis Taylor

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I honestly don't run red lights if it's a safety concern.  I've received 2 red light tickets, 1 a bullshit right on red and the other on a very very very short yellow. If a cop was there and pulls me over, so be it. I'll talk to him and take my chances. It's the big brother technology I have the problem with 

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Surly Bevo

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To me the fact they create safety issues as noted is my biggest beef. The fact that they have also caused municipalities to dabble in the murky area of making an offense that is traditionally treated as a criminal offense a civil matter in order to try and skirt the issue that there is no due process is also somewhat troublesome.

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Pogo

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On 6/2/2019 at 7:59 AM, Fuck Tim Beck said:

This right here. And in the case of Killeen they were losing money. Only the camera company came out ahead. Shocking. 

Round Rock city council canceled the program a few years ago citing high expenses and not being able to collect on 14,000 outstanding tickets.

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ztejas

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3 hours ago, TexMex Horn said:

As a new poster, I found this topic interesting. Why do most people seem to despise these cameras? Is it because they don't think there should be a penalty to run a red light? Do these people also think other or all traffic law enforcement should be banned? I'm really curious

Because law enforcement should be people enforcing the law against other people. I'd rather not live under Skynet. 

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5 hours ago, TexMex Horn said:

As a new poster, I found this topic interesting. Why do most people seem to despise these cameras? Is it because they don't think there should be a penalty to run a red light? Do these people also think other or all traffic law enforcement should be banned? I'm really curious

Because yellow light duration was artificially shortened, not in the interest of safety, but to increase revenue.

 

People also slam on their brakes earlier than normal, actually increasing the frequency of rear end collisions at intersections.

I'm all about "Stop breaking the law, asshole!" too; but this was gotcha bullshit at its finest.

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mulletpelini

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12 hours ago, TexMex Horn said:

As a new poster, I found this topic interesting. Why do most people seem to despise these cameras? Is it because they don't think there should be a penalty to run a red light? Do these people also think other or all traffic law enforcement should be banned? I'm really curious

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