Red-light cameras: Trenton might do the right thing for a change (Mulshine)

Governor Christie announces extended Sea Bright sea wall
Chris Christie in Sea Bright last week: If John Wisniewski wants to succeed him as governor, he'd better stop at this red light. (John O'Boyle)
Follow on Twitter
on September 01, 2014 at 7:58 AM, updated September 01, 2014 at 9:07 AM
"I'm not predisposed to continue it." - Chris Christie on the red-light camera program.

The term “blue moon” describes the second full moon occurring in one month. This rarely occurs, hence the saying “once in a blue moon,” as in “Once in a blue moon, the Legislature actually does something that makes life better for the average New Jerseyan.”

The next blue moon will occur on July 31 of next year. By then, New Jersey drivers could well be enjoying life without red-light cameras. If so, we will have Declan O’Scanlon to thank.

O’Scanlon is a Republican assemblyman from Monmouth County who has taken on the task of fighting for Jersey drivers against the many efforts by public officials to take our money under the guise of safety.

Such efforts usually come to naught. But when it comes to red-light cameras, the stars may be lining up in our favor. I saw evidence of that on Thursday when O’Scanlon attended the Governor’s press event in Sea Bright.

While we were waiting for Chris Christie to show, O’Scanlon told me the cameras don’t reduce accidents but do enhance revenues for the municipalities and the companies that run them. The companies can then afford to spend millions lobbying (or perhaps bribing) to keep them in operation.

Assemblyman John Wisniewski leads Assembly investigation committee into GWB lane closuresAssemblyman John Wisniewski: He has to decide whether he wants to position himself as the guy who fought corruption or the guy defended it. 

But they’ve got a problem: The legislation permitting their use included a sunset provision. Unless a new statute is in place by Dec. 16, this experiment ends.

Normally that legislation would be renewed. But this year things aren’t normal. The Chicago Tribune reported recently that the former head of U.S. operations for Redflex, which is one of the two companies operating the cameras in New Jersey, was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of bribing city officials. Meanwhile a fired executive is charging that the firm paid bribes in 13 other states, including New Jersey.

“I’m assuming that if he cooperates fully, the U.S. Attorney’s office will be interested in going wherever that leads,” said O’Scanlon.

Where it will lead is anybody’s guess, but what politician wants to be risk being seen as the champion of red-light cameras as that story develops?

Not Christie. After he showed up to announce that funding has been released to extend the town’s sea wall, he took questions from the press. As a service to my fellow motorists, I decided to pin the governor down on whether he would support the continued use of the cameras.

“I’m not predisposed to continue it,” said Christie. He added ,“My inclination is not to continue it, but I haven’t made a final decision on it yet.”

Such a decision would be necessary only if the Legislature sent him a bill. The bill would have to get through the Assembly Transportation Committee. That’s headed by John Wisniewski. O’Scanlon said the Middlesex County Democrat is much loved by the lobbyists.

“He’s obviously in their pocket so he can’t say anything negative about them,” said O’Scanlon. “But it’s gonna hurt his run for governor. He’s in a real tough spot.”

The run in question would be in the Democratic primary to succeed Christie. Wisniewski has been seen as positioning himself for a shot with his work in exposing the Bridgegate scandal. So would he want to run as the man who unveiled corruption or the man who fronted for a company accused of corruption? I gave him a call.

“If we can’t have a debate about the merits without overblown rhetoric, this legislation will not go anywhere,” Wisniewski replied. “Moreover the governor has said he may not be inclined to sign it. Why would anyone want to sponsor legislation when the governor has announced he’s not going to sign it?”

Why indeed? O’Scanlon seems to be winning this fight. And not a moment too soon.

Entire industries are springing up dedicated to preying on drivers. Under pressure from O’Scanlon, Hoboken recently ended the practice of booting cars parked in residents-only zones. But when the assemblyman looked into it, he found himself chatting with some lady in Seattle who collects credit-card information from unlucky drivers in Jersey.

Then there are those proposals to install roadside speed cameras, which Wisniewski has backed. O’Scanlon has issued a challenge to him and any other legislator who supports speed cameras: He will fit their cars with a GPS device that tracks infractions.

“I’ll put one in every car Wisniewski owns so we can improve safety for his entire family,” he offered.

When I bounced that off Wisniewski, he replied “That’s absolutely absurd.”

He’s right. Who would expect a law-maker to live by the the laws?

Why, that sort of thing only happens once in a blue moon.

ADD: O'Scanlon maintains this program is corrupt even in the absence of any explicit bribes. I agree.

The municipalities should not be making a profit from efforts they falsely claim are done to improve safety. To do so is corrupt.

If they really wanted to improve safety at intersections, O'Scanlon said, then they would lengthen the time for yellow lights. Instead they artificially decrease the time in an effort to catch unwary drivers.

Yellow lights are supposed to be rigged to 85th percentile speed.That's the speed at which 85 percent of the traffic approaching an intersection normally travels.

But the towns have tried such stunts as doing their monitoring during rush-hour traffic jams, when the cars are barely moving, he said.

Another trick is to do the monitoring from a marked police car. Upon seeing the car, the drivers tend to slow down, he said.

The reason they do this is simple, he said.

"If they have proper yellow-light times, the numbers go down 80-90 percent," he said.
"Unless the lights are rigged with short yellow light times then there is no profit."

Of course, there should be no profit in the first place. If the goal is safety, then the right thinng to do would be to increase the yellow-light times. These cameras are achieving the exact opposite.

O'Scanlon warns it would be even worse if those speed cameras were ever installed. At first they would claim to be using them only in school zones and work zones. But before long those zones would start getting bigger and bigger - as would the cash flow to corrupt officials.

And that's just the beginning. As O'Scanlon noted, it's now possible to monitor every action of every driver in America.

Do you think they won't do it?

Then you're a very trusting soul.

ALSO: Here's just one citation from the state list of contributions Wisniewski received before he became the biggest booster of the red-light cameras:

15020 N 74TH ST

There are plenty more where that came from. Go to the state Election Law Enforcement Commission site and you can do a search on all the contributions he received from Redflex. My search shows Wisniewski received more money from the firm than any other state elected official.

So maybe he's not really intending to run for governor after all. That's the only explanation for why Wisniewski would want to keep pushing red-light cameras after taking all that swag from Redflex.