NYC Installing 200 Decoy Cameras To Stop Red Light Runners
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The city is putting a plan in place to catch drivers running red lights, and to keep them guessing. Officials say there are already dozens of cameras installed at busy intersections around New York City that take pictures of cars running red lights. The picture are then sent to motorists along with a ticket. The new plan is intended to scare drivers into obeying red lights by putting up 200 dummy cameras, which flash just like the real thing, but that's about all, at least for now. Marcus Solis reports in the Forest Hills section of Queens with the story and what it will mean to drivers.

The Department of Transportation has already installed real red light cameras along the so-called "Boulevard of Death," or Queens Boulevard. Soon some of the not so real ones will be added. City officials hope drivers won't be able to tell which are which, and that they will stop at all red lights.

Smile, you're on the DOT's red light camera. The camera's flash means a car has gone against the light and a summons will be coming in the mail. Or does it? Soon there will be 200 cameras around the city, but most will be decoys.

The city's transportation commissioner says it will be an effective deterrent.

Iris Weinshall, DOT Commissioner: "They'll see the flash, they'll think their getting a violation, and maybe for a week they will not be going through any more red lights. Or they will be nervous waiting for that violation to come, and will obey the law for that period of time."

There are currently 50 cameras at the city's most dangerous intersections, but the state legislature has blocked adding more because of privacy concerns. The new decoys are a way around the opposition, since no approval is needed.

Watchdogs say it's a good idea.

Ellen Cavanagh, Transportation Alternatives: "The city's pilot camera program was incredibly successful. It reduced crashes by 30 percent at the intersections where it was implemented, and this is just an inexpensive and common sense way to expand on that."

New York started using red light cameras in 1993. Some motorists know where many of them are, so what do they think this low-tech development?

NY Motorist: "I don't think it's fair. I mean we're an educated community, we should be told what's going on."

NY Motorist: "It's a good idea. It made me stop. I think this one's real, over here, though."

The decoys will look like the real thing, because they will be actual cameras, just not operational. The DOT, however, does plan on rotating which ones will be operational.

Iris Weinshall, DOT Commissioner: "You may go through the light one day and not get a violation and then maybe three or four months later you will go through it again and you will get a violation."

The city's goal is to have all of the cameras operational some day. Officials say it's about safety not money - the DOT doesn't collect the fines. The new dummy cameras will be phased in over the next 18 months in all five boroughs.

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