Hit Them Where It Hurts: Hit Them In The Pocket Book!

David Catanese is reporting on the KY3 Political Blog that

Missouri lawmakers are moving towards passing a bill that could put a halt on red light cameras in Springfield.

The Missouri House has approved an amendment that would require communities with red light cameras to put the revenue from tickets back into schools. The city of Springfield said that if passes out of conference committee, it would effectively shut down the cameras here.

Watch my KY3 News @ 10 report HERE.

All of Greene County's lawmakers voted for the amendment. But now they are doubting it will survive the conference process. Watch for comments from Rep. Bob Dixon and Rep. Shane Schoeller in the piece

Catanese further reports

Missouri lawmakers are close to passing a bill that could put halt the use of red light enforcement systems in Springfield.
The Missouri House approved an amendment that would require communities with red light enforcement still/video camera systems to put the revenue from their tickets into schools. The City of Springfield says, if that passes, it would effectively shut down the systems here.

“Right now for this fiscal year, it'd be about a $250,000 hit,” said city attorney Dan Wichmer.

That's the money the city would lose if this amendment survives an unpredictable conference committee. A lawmaker from St. Louis who feels the red light cameras in his city are geared towards profit sponsored the amendment.

Springfield's cameras are leased on a flat rate, and police officers decide which tickets to issue, not the company, so the city contends there's no incentive for the company to capture fines.

If a bus rider cares, here is another bus stop on "red light cameras" from March, 2008: http://bus-plunge.blogspot.com/2008/03/red-alert-everything-they-really-dont.html