Lawrence Residents Part of Red-Light Camera Settlement

By Anthony Bellano

Lawrence Township, East Windsor and East Brunswick are among 18 towns in the state where drivers are receiving settlements totaling about $4.2 million for tickets issued as the result of red light cameras, nj.com reports.

About 500,000 drivers received notice of the settlement, according to nj.com. A U.S. District Court judge in Trenton will decide whether the settlement should be accepted at a hearing set for Sept. 12, according to the report.

According to the settlement, posted on njviolationsettlement.com, individual drivers who received tickets as a result of this system on or before Aug. 1, 2012 are entitled to receive at least $8.50.

Residents in the 18 towns filed complaints that municipalities and American Traffic Solutions, which operated the cameras for the towns, didn’t meet requirements set forth by New Jersey’s Pilot Red Light Camera Program, according to the report.

According to the report, no traffic study was conducted in areas that would include cameras prior to their implementation, and there were no six-month maintenance inspections.

Despite denying the allegations, the towns and American Traffic Solutions agreed to pay the settlement.

Other towns listed in the settlement include: Glassboro, Deptford, Gloucester Township, Brick, Jersey City, Linden, Monroe, Palisades Park, Piscataway, Pohatcong, Rahway, Roselle Park, Union, Wayne and Woodbridge.

Since its inception in 2009, red light cameras have grown to include 76 intersections across the state, with Lawrence Township joining the program in late 2011.  

Lawrence Police Chief Daniel Posluszny said earlier this year that accidents increased at the intersection of Route 1 and Franklin Corner Road/Bakers Basin Road after a red light camera was installed.

A total of 50 crashes took place at the intersection from December 2011 through November 2012, the first year the camera system was operational. Of those 50, 39 were rear-end collisions.

Between November 2010 and October 2011 before the camera system was installed, there were only 38 accidents at the intersection, with 30 rear-end collisions, according to the township police department.

“The numbers have gone up on accidents, and it’s concerning,” Posluszny said Feb. 19. “We’re still trying to look at it and come up with some thought process as to why and some options with it. It [the red light camera system] is there to improve safety, and in the first year accidents have increased. There’s no way around that.”

With Route 1 and Bakers Basin Road/Franklin Corner Road located in a state-designed “safe corridor” area, fines for red light violations are doubled to $140.

A total of 8,848 tickets were issued to motorists in 2012 for red light violations captured by the camera system at Route 1 and Franklin Corner Road/Bakers Basin Road, according to police. The majority of the violations were issued for improper turns onto Route 1 from the right-hand lane of Franklin Corner Road (4,673) and the right-hand lane of Bakers Basin Road (1,938).