Red light camera gives money back to driver

By: drivers.com staff
Date: 2009-04-20

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Fair play for drivers won out in a Tennessee city!

One of many motorists caught running a red by a red light camera in Chattanooga, Tennessee, decided to challenge his ticket. He won, and now everybody gets their money back.

The Chattanooga Municipal Court Clerk's office is ordering a refund of fines given to 176 motorists who were ticketed for running a red traffic light at Martin Luther King Boulevard and Pine Street. An investigation of the intersection followed when a driver fought his ticket on the basis that the yellow light interval was not long enough.

On the instigation of Municipal Court Judge Russell Bean, city traffic engineer John Van Winkle investigated the intersection and found that the yellow light interval for the left turn from M.L. Boulevard to Pine Street was set at about 3 seconds when it should have been closer to 4 to suit the size of the intersection and the speed of traffic.

"We found the problem and corrected it that day," Van Winkle said. The city will refund the $50 fine for all motorists who were cited for running the red within the first second.

LaserCraft Inc., the Georgia-based company which provides and operates the cameras gets a portion of each fine. City Chief Financial Officer Daisy Madison says she has not yet determined whether LaserCraft will refund its portion of the fines.

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