Politics & Government

Brick Red Light Cam Tickets Near $1M Mark for 2011

Township keeps a portion of the revenue generated by two intersections in town with traffic cams

Through November 2011, red light cameras at two Brick intersections generated $929,701 worth of traffic fines. Of that amount, the township collected $552,101, according to Business Administrator Scott Pezarras.

December's data hasn't been calculated yet, Pezarras said, but at an average of more than $84,000 worth of tickets given out each month, it stands to reason the cameras could likely have generated more than $1 million in total fines in 2011.

Pezarras said the revenue generated by Brick's red light cameras – which are located at the intersections of Route 70 and Chambers Bridge Road and Brick Boulevard and Chambers Bridge Road – is something of an anomaly, according to engineers at American Traffic Systems, the company that manages the cameras for the township.

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"Normally, the number of tickets decline after a year," Pezarras said.

Some towns, he's been told, even go so far as to switch cameras to new intersections since revenue drops so low after word gets out that cameras are operating.

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In Brick, however, the rate of tickets issued remained steady through 2011. The camera at the Brick Boulevard intersection first came online in February 2010 and the Route 70 camera first started nabbing red-light runners in October 2010.

The cameras record the license plate numbers of drivers who disobey the traffic signal, and generate $85 tickets that are mailed out after a review by a police officer. Alleged violators can then review a video of their violation at a website. The violations do not carry points against violators' driver's licenses.

The remaining $377,600 left over after the township collected its portion of the fines generated by the cameras was collected by ATS as part of a fee agreement, and also covered maintenance, software licenses and the actual issuance of the tickets, Pezarras said.

Township officials are planning to cover with red light cams this year – the merge of Route 70 and Brick Boulevard, and Route 88 and Post Road.

Pezarras said no date has been set for those cameras to be installed, but drivers will be given a month-long grace period from violations once they are activated.

Brick is one of several municipalities across the state participating in a pilot program that will be used to study whether or not red light cameras should be permanently legalized. Brick is the only Ocean County municipality participating.


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