CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Tonight Charlotte City Council will discuss the possibility of bringing back cameras that catch drivers running red lights.
Several council members said last month that they supported the possible return of the electronic eyes which were removed in 2006 after the N.C.Court of Appeals ruled 90% of the money paid by red light runners must go to public schools.
Charlotte's cameras were installed and maintained by Peek Traffic Corp., a Florida-based company which received $35 from every $50 ticket.
The court's ruling forced the city to send more than $4.8 million to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and sparked a debate among Mecklenburg Commissioners on how the money should be used.
Council members later voted to shut down the city's red light camera program which had generated more than $1 million for CMS each year.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police had said the cameras, which had been in place since 1999, led to a sharp decrease in accidents at intersections.
"The bottom line is they saved lives, they (stopped) accidents and they worked," city council member Susan Burgess told NewsChannel 36.
Mayor Anthony Foxx said he would work with Mecklenburg Commissioners and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School Board in drafting an agreement which would allow the cameras to be reinstalled.
The city would send money from traffic fines to the school system as required by law, but would ask CMS to reimburse the cost of running the cameras and mailing the tickets, Foxx said.
"I think there’s got to be a way for us to figure out how to make it work and hopefully the political will is there to do it," said Foxx.
