The Duluth City Council was expected to vote in favor of new red-light cameras this week. The Gwinnett County city already has four red-light cameras, but they will likely switch to a new system that will continuously run video and a new service that will keep costs level with revenue brought in from traffic tickets. Police Chief Randy Belcher said that Duluth would save money by using cameras operated by Arizona-based American Traffic Solutions, rather than Norcross-based LaserCraft. The new system would cost the city $4,750 per camera per month.

Some people complain that the cameras are unconstitutional and that they unfairly target harried commuters. City officials counter that their main goal with the cameras is public safety, particularly to prevent t-bone accidents at intersections. They say they would prefer to do what they can to make sure citizens are not paying for the cameras, but rather, that the city is breaking even.

 

Last year, Duluth and five other Gwinnett County municipalities turned off their cameras because they weren't bringing in enough revenue. Car accidents and injuries were down, but so were traffic tickets. As soon as the cameras were off, however, traffic violations surged, leading the municipalities to turn the cameras back on. 

Gwinnett County cities Alpharetta and Roswell currently use American Traffic Systems red-light cameras. Duluth's four cameras are located at Pleasant Hill Road and Peachtree Industrial Boulevard. Belcher recommends adding another camera at the intersection of Pleasant Hill Road and Berkeley Lake Road, but they will probably wait until they see how well the new system and cameras work.

 

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