Suffolk County did not get authorization from the State of New York to renew its red light camera program, and to that we say, “Good Riddance.” A proposed bill was ready to go on the Assembly side of the house. No legislator would be willing to sponsor a mirrored bill on the Senate side.
Started under the administration of former County Executive Steve Bellone to plug holes in his budget, the cameras were an intrusive cash grab by politicians who seemingly cared little for the people they represented. Suffolk residents pay among the highest taxes and fees in the nation and this was just another nail in their economic coffin.
That Bellone and crew were doing it for public safety is nonsense—no honest person believed that. In fact, to squeeze taxpayers even harder, it was revealed that the county reduced the length of the yellow lights in order to nail more drivers.
More than 358,000 tickets went out last year at red light camera intersections, which is ludicrous. If Suffolk drivers were really that reckless, there would be mayhem on the streets. There is not, which goes to prove that the cameras were really a money grab to begin with.
The camera program, for now, is dying a natural death since there is not a bill in the Senate to renew it. Let’s keep it that way. There’s talk of slipping a renewal measure into an end-of-the-year bill to clean up any matters left unsettled after the regular legislative session. This would allow an end run around the need for a “Home Rule” message from the Suffolk Legislature, which previously did not consider one for the red light renewal. It’s motorists be damned if the state re-ups the cameras without a vote by our local representatives.