Fort Lauderdale Planning To Keep Red Light Cameras

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FT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) -  Following Fort Lauderdale's decision to suspend its red light  traffic program, city commissioners  decided Tuesday they want to find a way to keep it.

Fort Lauderdale suspended its red light traffic program on March 6th, after a Broward traffic court ruled that it violated a statute which says only law enforcement agencies can issue violations.

On Tuesday, the city commission discussed the matter saying they realized the current situation did not comply with the law but they will try to find a way to make it work since it saves lives.

The decision comes a day after, two county judges dismissed 24,000 pending red-light camera tickets, according to the Sun-Sentinel.

The citations, which came from just about every city in the county, tallied up to more than $6 million.

The suit challenging the citations was brought by the Ticket Clinic. They argued, and the judges agreed, that cities violated the law when they sent video to be reviewed to Arizona based-America Traffic Solutions (ATS). That's the same company that installed and maintains the cameras.

Click here to watch Cynthia Demos' report. 

The company would review the videos and report their findings to the cities' police agencies for ticketing.

Ted Hollander with the Ticket Clinic. Has been heading the fight against the cameras for four years. But the Fort Lauderdale city commission said this fight is all about saving lives.

"They say it is for safety issues but it is to make money," said Hollander.

"It has never been about finances. This program works," said Mayor Jack Seiler.

The plan now is to try to get some kind of discount for their existing $1.7 million deal left with ATS for the next 13 months for the 23 cameras in town. They're trying to figure out how to proceed with ATS whose representative at Tuesday's meeting said they're willing to work out something with the city.

The big question for most  is if you recently got a ticket in the mail do you pay it?

You have to fight it. When it goes before a magistrate, it should be dismissed. If you ignore it, the fine will go up.

If you've already paid a ticket in the past and you want your money back, you can join a class action lawsuit fighting to do just that.

The issue will go before Miami-Dade County on March 30th.