Township Schools Get Failing Grade, Coyle Harassment Hearing Postponed Top Local News

Also in the news, the Gloucester Township teacher contract is still not settled, a teen is hit by car on the way to school and more.

Only four Gloucester Township schools met proficiency standards in math and language. UPDATED at 2:59 p.m. Friday. Both sides have met with a state fact finder. An attorney said the prosecutor didn't have enough information to proceed. Angel McDermott thinks Gloucester Township is penalized for disadvantaged students. Gloucester Township Police say speed doesn't appear to be a factor in the pedestrian accident on Good Intent Road at Marshall Avenue. There were 433 Gloucester Township students eligible for the awards. The state decides a red-light camera pilot program, which Gloucester Township is a part of, will not expand. The Lions jumped out to an early lead and never looked back against the Chargers. A portion of the proceeds from the …

• Photos (3)

No More Red-Light Cameras in Gloucester Twp.

The state decides a red-light camera pilot program, which Gloucester Township is a part of, will not expand.

Red-Light Camera Expansion Halted

New Jersey Department of Transportation says an impending end to a red-light camera pilot program, which Gloucester Township is a part of, won't provide enough data in time to add new towns.

The state won’t add any additional authorized red-light camera intersections because the pilot program, scheduled to end in December 2014, won’t provide enough useful data, New Jersey Department of Transportation officials announced. None of the municipalities who have expressed interest in joining the program will be considered in light of the decision. 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’s cameras are a huge moneymaker for the town. The township issued nearly 39,000 traffic tickets in the first 18…

•  26 Comments
• Photos (2)

Brutus Cato

11:56 am on Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Yes, maybe a free hotdog give-away (one per GT resident on GT Day) to keep our minds off of what's really going on. Give them more circuses.   more ›

Red-Light Cameras Hot Topic in Trenton

A North Jersey state senator introduces legislation that would steer revenue from red-light camera ticketing programs to the state's Highway Safety Fund.

A Republican state senator from North Jersey has introduced legislation that eliminates the financial incentive for towns to install red-light cameras. Sen. Mike Doherty (Warren) in mid-January vowed to bring forth the legislation challenging towns' purpose in red-light camera ticketing programs. He followed through on that promise on Thursday. “Despite growing proof that red-light cameras have failed at their primary goal of improving driver safety, local officials continue to defend the cameras,” Doherty said in a press release. “It’s clear that many mayors and council members would rather have red-light cameras ticket revenues for their budgets than safer roads for our families.” Doherty's bill would direct towns to deposit all fines …

•  12 Comments
• Photos (1)
• Videos (1)

North Jersey Legislator Takes Aim at Red-Light Camera Money

State Sen. Michael Doherty drafts a bill to pull red-light camera revenue out of the hands of municipalities.

A North Jersey state senator is pushing legislation to force municipalities to give up revenue from red-light cameras and challenging the notion the cameras are for safety, but a Gloucester Township official questions the sharing aspect of the bill. State Sen. Michael Doherty (R-Hunterdon-Somerset-Warren), who has previously sponsored legislation aimed at banning the cameras outright, fired directly at town officials in drafting the new bill, claiming the revenue from tickets—which run drivers $85 per violation in Gloucester Township—is the real purpose behind having red-light cameras in place. Instead of leaving the money in the towns’ hands, Doherty’s draft bill, which has yet to be introduced, would divert all red-light camera revenue …

•  16 Comments
• Photos (1)

Darren Gladden

10:47 pm on Saturday, January 19, 2013

PS .....did not want to say it but Tom yes you are doing something WRONG .. Maybe YOU SHOULD focus a little more about bringing Bussiness and growth to the Town Tom and not so much on your let's get rich Fast scams and make people for bad about themselves for doing Rolling Stops and punish them 85 bucks for in Tough times make the people pay as Long as you have the power ...SMH ......O people of …   more ›

Signal Timing at Township's Camera-Monitored Intersections Questioned

The state Department of Transportation in June ruled Gloucester Township's methodology for timing yellow lights at camera-monitored intersections was fine. A government watchdog is not so sure that's true.

A government watchdog is calling on Gloucester Township officials to take a closer look at the yellow-light times for its camera-monitored intersections as a North Jersey legislator wages war on the pilot program that allows the technology's use for red-light ticketing purposes here and in more than 20 other New Jersey towns. "It's important that we get this right, because we need to be accurate in what we're doing," Joshua Berry, political director of conservative government watchdog group South Jersey Citizens, told Council Monday night. Berry is troubled by the disparity in the times utilized by township engineering firm Remington & Vernick (R & V) to certify yellow-light times at several intersections. He received the June …

•  24 Comments
• Photos (3)

Monmouth County Lawmaker Testing Red-Light Cameras

A traffic engineer working for Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon says yellow lights are at least a half-second short at two spots along Blackwood Clementon Road.

Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon has not made any attempts to hide his disdain for New Jersey's pilot program for red-light cameras. He views the devices as moneymakers, not tools to improve traffic safety, as proponents suggest. Now, the Monmouth County Republican has hired a Virginia-based professional engineer to time the yellow lights at camera-monitored intersections across New Jersey, including in Gloucester Township, according to the Star-Ledger. That engineer told the Newark paper yellow lights at two of the four intersections along Gloucester Township's Blackwood Clementon Road are at least a half-second too short, based on his recent analysis as compared to state law mandating yellow light times for camera-monitored intersections. …

•  8 Comments
• Photos (2)

DOT OKs Red-Light Camera Tickets

The New Jersey Department of Transportation suspended ticketing from red-light cameras at 63 of 85 intersections in June.

The New Jersey Department of Transportation (DOT) has granted 21 municipalities permission to resume ticketing from red-light cameras after suspending the programs at a total of 63 intersections in June over concerns those towns may have used the wrong formula to determine yellow-light duration. Gloucester Township was one of just four New Jersey towns included in the pilot program permitted to continue ticketing from all red-light cameras when DOT issued the suspension order June 19. The township had certified that it was utilizing the yellow-light timing formula mandated by state legislation for its red-light camera program, according to DOT. See below for an explanation of the differences between the formulas used to determine yellow-…

•  3 Comments
• Photos (2)

DOT: Gloucester Township Using Right Formula

The township indicated in its application it would use a formula mandated by legislation on the pilot program for red-light cameras.

Gloucester Township indicated in its application to become part of a New Jersey pilot program for red-light cameras that it would use the yellow-light timing formula mandated by legislation on the program, a state Department of Transportation spokesman said Wednesday. It's that application that spared the township's red-light camera program from a suspension-of-ticketing directive handed down by the DOT this week, the spokesman said. Gloucester Township is one of four towns included in the five-year pilot program that was not part of the DOT directive to shut down red-light camera ticketing programs. The township has a total of 10 cameras monitoring red lights at four intersections along Blackwood Clementon Road. The others are Deptford …

•  13 Comments
• Photos (2)

DOT Suspends Red-Light Camera Tickets, but Not in Gloucester Township

The NJ Department of Transportation has suspended red-light camera programs in 21 of 25 municipalities, but not Gloucester Township's.

The New Jersey Department of Transportation (DOT) on Tuesday announced it has suspended ticketing from red-light cameras in 21 of 25 municipalities it approved to use the technology, but Gloucester Township isn't one of them. DOT has ordered ticketing suspended at 63 of 85 camera-monitored intersections statewide after it learned the pilot program's legislation specifies a formula to determine the proper duration of the yellow light in a traffic signal that differs from the legally required, nationally accepted formula DOT and the state's municipalities use when installing traffic signals. Ticketing by red-light cameras has been temporarily shut down altogether in 19 of the 21 towns impacted by the DOT directive. Those 19 towns are Newark…

•  15 Comments
• Photos (3)

Paul J. DiBartolo

9:35 am on Sunday, July 1, 2012

Bingo! It's ultimately a tax, especially on those who live closest to the lights (i.e., Blackwood residents). So, you paid the tax out of whatever disposable income you had left over after paying all your other taxes, and guess what? Now your disposable income was that much less than it could have been so, no pool membership. Chief Earle, Mr. Mayer, Mr. Bianchini and the rest of Council...are you…   more ›