Gainesville City Commissioners unanimously passed an ordinance on Thursday that will move the city forward in implementing red-light traffic cameras.
“The intent here is to save lives,” said Mayor Harvey Ward in an interview with WUFT.
The city of Gainesville is working alongside the Gainesville Police Department and the Gainesville Department of Transportation in efforts to improve public safety.
One of these measures includes the installation of pilot red-light traffic cameras at two intersections: Northwest 23rd Avenue at Northwest Sixth Street, and Northeast 39th Avenue at Northeast Waldo Road.
Motorists running through a red-light camera will have to pay a $158 fine, with the city collecting $75, according to the ordinance. But Commissioner Bryan Eastman said that red-light traffic cameras aren’t “money-makers.”
City commissioners expect that the project will be revenue neutral, according to the agenda. However, the ordinance was adjusted to reflect that any remaining funds would be put back into public safety efforts.
Eastman cited examples of these efforts as “bulb-outs” for improved pedestrian visibility, sidewalk improvements and continued Vision Zero plans.
The ordinance passed 6-0, with Commissioner James Ingle absent.
Mayor Ward said “Revenue neutral means it’s not going to take anything out of the existing budget, nor do we expect there to be new revenue coming in to add to the general revenue.”
The timeframe for the installation of the traffic cameras is still unknown, according to Gainesville Police Department. Chief of Police Nelson Moya said at the meeting that the two pilot cameras will be installed, and data will be collected to monitor their efficacy.
Then, they will consider pressing on to the additional intersections mentioned in the plan, including at the intersections of Southwest 34th Street at Archer Road, and West Newberry Road at Northwest 62nd Street.
Eastman also said he intends to see how red-light traffic cameras installed in Orlando and Tampa have impacted those cities.
City commissioners and GPD said processing violations will be done locally. Although the camera company will handle the initial paperwork, GPD will determine the validity of the traffic infraction.
Commissioner Ed Books mentioned that he has received emails from concerned citizens.
“They think about it as a ‘Big Brother’ concept, and it’s a pilot,” said Books. “I do not think it’s going to be that.”
Ward elaborated on this further in an interview with WUFT. “The most important thing to remember about this is that it’s already illegal to run red lights,” he said.
In response to privacy concerns, he said, “I would say that it’s far less intrusive to have somebody take a picture of you driving through a red light than to have, than to be pulled over and have a personal interaction with an officer or a group of officers. Far less intrusive.”
He said he was empathetic to public concerns about privacy but “I don’t think this increases intrusion in anyone’s life.”
There were no public comments at the meeting.
The decision to install traffic infraction detectors comes as the city is pushing for stronger safety measures, including adopting Vision Zero, a project with the Gainesville Department of Transportation to bolster road safety and eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries in the city by 2040.
At the May 1 city commission meeting, Karla Rodrigues-Silva, the Vision Zero coordinator, shared a presentation that showed that 41.2% of all crashes in Gainesville between 2018 and 2022 were intersection-related.
“But we all know that Gainesville intersections, it’s where we have a lot of crashes,” Rodrigues-Silva said at the meeting.
There were 67 crashes in Gainesville in 2023 involving red light and traffic control signal violations, according to her presentation.
Commissioners hope that installing red-light traffic cameras will reduce the danger at intersections.
At the meeting, commissioners also discussed an ordinance related to speed detection devices in school zones. Alongside project Vision Zero and additional public safety ordinances, the city aims for greater road safety for civilians.