#CITY OF TAMPA TRAFFIC INSTALL#

The city painted its first Crosswalks to Classrooms intersection this past weekend and earlier this week details of the program were released as attendees of Mayor Jane Castor’s announcement were arriving in Tampa for the Safe Routes to Schools conference taking place at the nearby Tampa Convention Center. We need every tool, every policymaker, every advocate, every law enforcement officer and the Florida Department of Transportation to come together to work on reducing heartache on our roads.The city of Tampa, Florida has unveiled the first of what will be several intersection redesigns aimed at eliminating pedestrian fatalities. “Good people are making very bad decisions on our roadways.

“They’ve taken away a tool and politicized it when it shouldn’t be,” Wandall said. The statewide legislation has given cities and counties the power to use red-light cameras to issue civil citations since 2010.īut the Manatee Board of County Commissioners voted in May not to renew the contract with their red-light camera vendor after issuing tickets for a decade. Melissa Wandall, a nationally recognized advocate for street safety, worked with the Florida Legislature to implement the Mark Wandall Traffic Safety Act, named after her husband, who was killed by a red-light runner in Manatee County nearly 20 years ago, 19 days before their daughter was born. He helped launch a method for Floridians to contest the tickets at the local level in 2012, calling them “highly dubious.” Jeff Brandes, former Senate transportation chairperson and Republican senator representing Pinellas, has long referred to the cameras as a “backdoor tax increase,” filing legislation seeking to ban their use. The company had programs in 29 areas across Florida in 2021-2022.Īpproximately 90% of people who received a Tampa red-light camera ticket have not received another, according to a company spokesperson. Verra Mobility provides photo enforcement services in cities across the country, including Washington, D.C., New Orleans and Orlando.

There is no statewide oversight of red-light camera programs, but the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles asks jurisdictions to complete a self-reported spreadsheet and survey annually. The city has never conducted an independent red-light camera analysis, according to the survey response.

#CITY OF TAMPA TRAFFIC INSTALL#

Traffic crash data is a “very important” factor when selecting which intersections to install red-light cameras, according to a survey Tampa police completed in 2022 for the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Crashes resulting from red-light violations can be particularly dangerous because they often cause T-bone collisions with pedestrians and cyclists at speed. The city’s cameras are stationed around major thoroughfares, including Florida and Hillsborough avenues and Dale Mabry Highway. “Red-light cameras are a valuable tool in that mission, and there is a simple solution for those who dislike or worry about them: Don’t run red lights,” she said.

City of tampa traffic