A Candidate’s Blog: Transcript Five

[Disclosure: This blog is written from my perspective as both a candidate for a seat on Gloucester Township Council and as a concerned citizen with questions and concerns about business as usual in Gloucester Township.]

Gloucester Township Patch (5-11-2013): “There are 76 authorized and operational red-light camera intersections throughout the state. Gloucester Township was one of 25 towns approved for the pilot program, and it flipped the switch on its 10 red-light cameras on Blackwood Clementon Road in July 2010.”

Gloucester Township covers just less than 23 square miles but its 10 red-light cameras are concentrated across four intersections along Blackwood Clementon Road in just over a mile stretch.

What is it about Blackwood Clementon Road that requires such concentrated attention and control?

In a , Mayor Mayer was quoted stating, “We had to try to slow traffic down. And we had to do that for a number of reasons. One is safety. The other is economic development. Traffic just flowed too quickly through there. As you can see, that corridor is not thriving.” Nor does that corrider thrive today. The ten red-light cameras that terrorize the residents of Gloucester Township have done nothing to change economics along Blackwood Clementon Road. In fact, one might argue that things are worse today there then back in February, 2012.

The reality of Blackwood Clementon Road’s red-light-camera alley from Millbridge Road to Erial Road casts Mr. Mayer’s logic into serious question. The positioning of the cameras as they are does nothing to slow people down so they are more aware of the businesses along the road. It sounds good alright, but the logistics of where the cameras are in regard to the distances between the lights and the businesses as they are positioned along the road just doesn’t make sense. Is there anybody that still doesn’t know that the red-light camera at the Erial Road intersection is there to make money off of commuters coming off of Rt. 42 and turning right onto Erial Rd. to get home?

So, given my opinion that Mr. Mayer is blowing smoke, what is the explanation for Red-Light Camera Row, the most notorious mile of road in Gloucester Township?

We are informed by Patch that these cameras are a huge moneymaker for the town. In the first 18 months of use, nearly 39,000 tickets were issued resulting in $2.5 million in fines with about $1.3 million of that as direct profit to the township.

Hello, that’s 72 tickets per day, 7 days a week for 18 months. And who do you think paid the bulk of those fines? Gloucester Township residents paid those fines. While someone might try to tell you that the township reaps the benefits, the truth is that the residents suffer via fines and an atmosphere that serves to discourage traffic along the commercial corridor of Blackwood Clementon Road all resulting in failing businesses. Is that what we mean when we say that Gloucester Township is a great place to live, work, and play?

If these fines were all for running red lights we might say, “fine,” but the fact is, the bulk of these fines were imposed upon people who made right hand turns after coming to a stop…okay, a pause in some cases. Unfortunately, they did not stop in the proscribed way for the proscribed amount of time. Now, who has time to take a day off from work to fight an $85 traffic fine?

Right-turn-on-red was mandated by the state to save fuel since the bureaucrats didn’t think we could figure out how to do that ourselves; it was imposed upon us an energy saving action. Now we are being punished for not doing it exactly as someone else thinks it should be done.

But it’s all in the name of safety, right? Would you ever believe in your wildest dreams that someone would figure out that by reducing the yellow light timing at a red-light camera controlled intersection more infractions could be created thus increasing revenue?

Recently a number of NJ’s red-light cameras were taken off line due to yellow lights failing to meet state timing standards. Of course, Gloucester Township was quick to brag that its certifications were approved and that sounds good until you find out how we certify and how the state looks at those certifications. The operative word is “looks;” that’s all the state does is look at our certifications.

John Cantwell, representative to council from Remington & Vernick said (): "The practice, frankly, is to go out with a stopwatch and take a series of measurements and average them. That is the standard that has been used for years to measure these things. I mean, you can get more sophisticated if you want to go to the expense of providing more elaborate equipment, but it really is unnecessary."

Given that it has been shown, over and over again, that lengthening the period of the yellow light at an intersection significantly reduces traffic infractions and accidents, I would say, yes, Mr. Cantwell, we do want you to move into the 21st century and time the lights with the latest technology available especially when township is issuing 72 tickets a day and hammering the residents of Gloucester Township with another unneeded and debilitating tax.

As an engineer myself who works with sensitive electronic equipment, I informed council and Mr. Cantwell that I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when I read of the so-called “engineering” process used for the certification of our yellow lights. It appears to be something out of the last century. Suffice it to say that I didn’t endear myself to Mr. Cantwell with this criticism.

NJ state Senator Mike Doherty and Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon have taken a stand against red-light cameras and are seeking to have them disbanded following in the path of a number of other localities that have discontinued the use of red-light cameras. With the use of laser equipment to monitor vehicle speeds and video to time the lights, an outside engineer concluded that two of GT’s four controlled intersections had at least two yellow lights that were a half second to a second short of the requirement. Mr. Cantwell, based on his timing method from the last century, disagrees. Is that surprising? By the way, you might think that Remington & Vernick doesn’t have a dog in this fight so what would it profit the firm to certify miss-timed lights?  Remington & Vernick has held the engineering contract in Gloucester Township a long time and employees of R & V filled various Democrat organizational coffers via political donations to the tune of $89,700 in 2012. As the top donor by a long shot to GT Democrats, with the next closest donor under $30k, you can bet that kind of contribution curries a lot of favor when it comes time to dole out township contracts. Why rock the boat? Our Pay-to-Play ordinance was supposed to deal with this but the Democrat’s watered down version did nothing.

Do you think the township’s only concern is safety and that the revenue is just an added bonus? It was just learned that Florida tweaked its yellow light standards to beef up the revenue it hauls in from red-light cameras. Research had indicated that a half-second reduction in yellow light timing can double the number of citations issued and its attendant revenue stream and that kind of money makes a lot more sense than safety to money-grubbing politicians.

The bottom line is that the residents of Gloucester Township are being punished twice in this scam; once when any resident becomes one of the 72 drivers on Blackwood Clementon Road that gets nailed daily by a red-light camera and again as the practice of punishing people who wish to shop in the area find out that it’s just not worth the aggravation and the $85 fine and make a decision to spend their money elsewhere.

See you in November.