Usually, the Monday after Thanksgiving is understandably filled with nothing but languish.
However, allow this past Monday, Dec. 2nd, to forever serve as a whopping exception, as local commuters were pleased to learn that the dreaded red light cameras had been outlawed countywide.
Senator Anthony Palumbo took to Facebook to initially declare the victory on Nov. 30th; he continued alongside his esteemed colleagues in local government at approximately 11:30 p.m. — and afterward for those who could not attend.
“What began as a new technology to improve traffic safety had morphed into cash grab off the backs of hard-working Suffolk families," said Palumbo. "The cameras have also been linked to an increase in accidents at several intersections. I am proud to stand with our Suffolk County Republican Leadership who kept their promise to end this program.”
“Their program was flawed from the beginning,” Legislator Piccirillo said with pride and vindication at the corner of Patchogue-Holbrook Rd and Furrows Rd in Holbrook on Monday.
“It wasn’t about saving lives," he adds. "It was about saving budgets.”
Reportedly, the red light camera program made close to $290 million from fines and fees for the county over the past 14 years.
“No more taxation by citation in Suffolk County,” said Legislator Rob Trotta (Fort Salonga).
Holbrook’s recently re-elected Assemblyman Doug Smith was equally as thrilled to be in attendance on behalf of his constituents plagued by red light camera enforcement on that very road.
“It was great to join a press conference led by Legislator Anthony Piccirillo officially marking the END of the Red Light Camera program in Suffolk County,” Smith writes. “What started as an experiment to make our roads safer, ended 14 years later as a cash grab (with cameras only located in working-class communities) that can be directly linked to an increase in accidents at many intersections.”
Just days ago, a New York State Appellate Division Court ruled the admin fees tacked onto the red light camera tickets issued in both Nassau and Suffolk County were illegal.
Nassau County says its 2025 budget will not be impacted by this decision.
Meanwhile in Suffolk, hundreds of millions can be owed to drivers attached to pending lawsuits.
“People shouldn’t be extorted by their own government,” Angelo Veltri, president of Save Long Island, told The South Shore Press senior reporter Robert Chartuk in his "Man on the Street" series.
“They should be there to protect us, not create a nanny state to collect our money. It's interesting how these cameras were mostly in low-income areas.”