Chillicothe Ohio Fight Speed Cameras and Red Light Cameras

In the wake of an Ohio supreme court decision favoring the use of speed cameras and red light cameras, residents of Chillicothe are looking to become the third community to take matters into their own hands. The groupCitizens Against Photo Enforcement announced the filing of a formal initiative petition this week that would offer a vote in November on whether to ban photo ticketing completely.

The initiative’s sponsors believe they can gather the 800 signatures required to put the question to voters in the city of 22,000. An informal online petition already gathered the support of 3416 area residents, which represents nearly one out of every five registered voters. If successful, the measure would repeal the city ordinance authorizing cameras and prohibit any similar ordinances from being adopted in the future. The measure also bans contracting out photo ticketing services to a private company and ensures anyone charged with a civil or administrative traffic fine has the full protection of due process under “state, federal, or common law as may apply.”

According to petition proponents, Chillicothe’s red light cameras have been placed at intersections with just 3.0 seconds of yellow warning time. Under a 2008 state law, it is illegal for any camera-equipped intersection to have a yellow time duration of less than 4.0 seconds (Ohio Code Section 4511.094). Proponents are also disturbed by the speed cameras that have been ticketing at a rate of at least 300 citations per day with 70 percent of the profit generated sent to Redflex Traffic Systems in Australia.

Last month a bipartisan coalition led a successful initiative effort banning cameras 100 miles west in Cincinnati. In 2006, three out of every four voters in Steubenville chose to kick out speed cameras after the devices had issued $600,000 in citations. Over the past twelve years, voters in Anchorage, Alaska; Peoria, Arizona and Batavia, Illinois have also banned cameras.

Source: www.thenewspaper.com, http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/26/2623.asp