LI traffic camera programs must be fair for drivers

The knowledge that cameras are ready to automatically “see” and fine traffic violators will motivate drivers to follow safety rules. It’s human nature. The presence of the devices deters a number of collisions and injuries even though there will always be rogues who won’t comply with any rules of the road.

But the administration of different traffic camera programs on Long Island has been very flawed. The way things are going, those who dismiss the technology’s use as “just a money grab” can win the day, eroding public and then political support for these programs. That result might be popular for some, but bad for public safety.

School buses equipped with electronic camera devices ticket violators who commit the serious offense of passing these vehicles with lights flashing and “stop” arms out. But the Town of Hempstead issued more than 80,000 such tickets over the last two years in and around school districts that never signed on to the public program, a Newsday investigation found. This is a prime example of government incompetence. State and local laws call for districts to opt in for summonses on their behalf to be issued.

Now two of the drivers who say they were wrongly charged are suing. They want to void each of the tickets issued since the program began in 2022. The money at stake is significant: As reported, the town wrote more than 270,000 tickets last year and the year before, worth some $67.5 million if paid.

EXCESSIVE FEES

That is only the latest bureaucratic and legal snafu to emerge in the summons-by-camera world. There’s a wider fix to be made — the court-ordered reimbursement of illegally excessive fees on tickets issued in both counties by stationary red-light cameras.

For years, Nassau County piled $100 in “driver responsibility” and “public safety” fees on top of a base fine of $50 per ticket, effectively tripling the authorized penalty. The county continued to do so despite warnings that the practice was illegal. In November, a state appellate division panel found the extra fees in both counties illegal. Suffolk had added a more modest illegal fee — $30. The law bars liability for a red light camera violation in excess of $50, or $75 if the payment is late.

The attorney challenging the programs in both counties is seeking to bring a class action case against Nassau and Suffolk so everyone wronged can get a refund, not just the few individuals who put their names on a lawsuit. The counties won’t detail their financial exposure but David Raimondo, the plaintiffs’ attorney seeking the class action certification, estimated it at around $160 million in Suffolk and between $200 million and $400 million in Nassau.

Possible appeals by Nassau and Suffolk, as well as the class action determination, will draw out this process and there is no way of knowing when refunds could be available and how much they would be. What we do know already is that the camera programs further expose the inability of local governments to have functional IT systems.

Suffolk says it lost access to recorded data of who paid fines and fees for its now-defunct red light camera program. Drew Schirmer, an assistant Suffolk County attorney, wrote in a recent court filing: “After searching my file for the flash drive, which I had forgotten about since receiving it in November 2020, I was able to locate it. However, our IT department determined that the data on this flash drive is corrupted and cannot be restored.”

A single thumb drive? It’s now unclear how, or whether, the data can be recovered. Meantime, Nassau may wish to seriously consider quickly its Fair Fees Accountability Act, proposed in December, which would establish a fund to reimburse residents who have been over-fined. Or the parties could agree on another method. Either way, the counties should work to return money as quickly as possible.

SUFFOLK ENDED PROGRAM

Last year, the Suffolk County Legislature passive-aggressively ended the red-light program by not acting in time to get permission from Albany to extend it for another two years. In Nassau, the country legislature sought and got the two-year extension.

The fees and the repayments will cost the counties dearly. But there were other operational issues that undercut the legitimacy of the programs from the start and fueled the money-grab arguments. There have been timing issues for the yellow-to-red on traffic lights. Drivers for years have told stories of trying to stop abruptly to avoid a ticket because the light changed too quickly — only to have a car hit them from behind. How long to wait before turning right on red has caused confusion — and tickets — for some drivers.

In Suffolk, there have been complaints of too many fines and cameras clustered in Brookhaven.

That and other issues ought to be discussed before the county legislature to determine whether there are alternative traffic-safety strategies. Most importantly, Suffolk should keep track of collision trends that follow the end of the red-light program in December to gauge the impact of letting it go dark.

Governments everywhere founder when it comes to the use of technology, which is difficult for nonexperts to oversee. But with the school bus and red-light programs, hundreds of millions of dollars are on the line as well as the urgency of accident prevention. Competent adjustments, continuous study and reforms are needed to keep the effort’s unfair snafus from dimming its important upsides.