RICHMOND, Feb. 4 -- Bills that would have allowed some Virginia localities to continue using surveillance cameras to catch red-light runners were defeated in a House committee Friday, dealing a serious blow to the state's experiment with the technology in the Washington suburbs.
The House Militia, Police and Public Safety Committee also defeated a bill that would have given any county or city the authority to develop the camera programs.
Del. Michele McQuigg called the action "disappointing."
(AP)
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Questions about the use of red-light cameras in Virginia have arisen in each of the past few sessions. Supporters said Friday that technology can improve law enforcement and public safety. They said that at certain dangerous intersections throughout the commonwealth, the number of accidents dropped immediately after the technology was installed because motorists knew that the cameras were there.
Opponents said the cameras are a violation of privacy, will not stop red-light runners and are used only to raise revenue for government. They added that the cameras flip the burden of proof from the government to citizens.
"Yes, there is a place for technology in law enforcement, but we need to balance this against a timeless criteria, which is the preservation of liberty," said L. Scott Lingamfelter (R-Prince William).
The House committee tabled a pair of measures to lengthen the authority to use the technology, which expires June 30. House Bill 2095, sponsored by Del. Timothy D. Hugo (R-Fairfax) would have allowed localities to continue their programs until 2007, while HB 2274, sponsored by G. Glenn Oder (R-Newport News), would have eliminated the program's expiration date.
The cameras are used in Alexandria, Fairfax City, Falls Church and Vienna and Arlington and Fairfax counties. Virginia Beach also uses the technology.
Similar bills granting authority to localities cleared the state Senate in January, but they likely will face review by the same House committee that killed the bills Friday.
"Nothing's ever dead until the session is over, but . . . it's disappointing that the needs of the citizens are not being recognized," said Del. Michele B. McQuigg (R-Prince William), who has sponsored legislation for the past several years that would allow all Virginia jurisdictions to install the cameras if they chose to do so.
Officials from several Northern Virginia jurisdictions said the defeat of the bills was a sign that many in Richmond are out of touch with the realities of Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads. Others said the decision ignored the positive features of the programs.
"It's the triumph of ideology over public safety . . . and that's tragic," said Fairfax Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D). "We know photo red lights save lives, we know it changes driving behavior. We have the data to demonstrate that. Lives will now be lost that could have been saved."
A 2004 Virginia Department of Transportation report on the technology found that the cameras affect the behavior of drivers and that citations decreased by an average of 21 percent at the 23 intersections sampled during a six-month period last year.
But the report did not conclude that there was a "definite safety improvement" linked to the technology. It pointed out that there was a "definite increase in rear-end crashes" because drivers tended to stop short at the intersections. The agency said that more time was needed to study the overall effects of the technology and recommended that it stay in place.
Virginia is one of 14 states, including Maryland, to allow the red-light cameras in some capacity. The District also uses them.
