The Florida legislature passed changes to the Mark Wandall
Traffic Safety Act, which is the law that pertains to the red light photo
enforcement program. If the governor signs the bill, several changes will go
into effect on July 1st. Here are some of the most notable:
1.
Those who receive a Notice of Violation (NOV)
will now have 60 days rather than 30 days to respond.
2.
If the vehicle owner fills out an affidavit
naming another person as the driver of the vehicle, that person will now be
issued a NOV with a $158 fine rather than a Uniform Traffic Citation (UTC) with
a $264 fine.
3.
The “right on red” language has been clarified
in the law. GPD will amend enforcement to comply with the new language, which
states that it is not a violation if a vehicle stops at any point after the
stop bar but prior to completing the turn. We will also increase our trigger
speed from 12 to 15 miles per hour, which means that any vehicle entering the
intersection at this speed and then failing to stop at any point during the
turn will be issued a NOV.
4.
There is now an official grievance process for
those who receive a NOV. Previously, anyone wishing to appeal would have to
ignore the NOV, which would prompt the issuance of a UTC with a higher fine.
Under the previous arrangement, only a UTC could be appealed.
5.
Under the new law, appeals of NOV’s will be
heard by a local hearing officer. In Gulfport, we have made arrangements to use
the code enforcement magistrate, who is Gulfport resident and attorney James
Thaler.
6.
If the magistrate finds the party guilty, then
the original $158 fine will be assessed, along with court costs. The law allows
up to $250 in court costs to be charged, but we will likely ask for no more
than $100. We want to encourage people to use this process, so we don’t want
the total fine to be higher than that for a UTC, which is $264.
7.
Guilty parties who do not pay the fines assessed
by the magistrate (or file an appeal to the circuit court within a designated
time) will have their vehicle registration suspended. This means that corporate
owners can no longer get away scot free. Under the previous law, only drivers
licenses could be suspended, and since those are issued to individuals,
businesses were often ignoring their NOV’s.
These new procedures put Florida more in line with how other
states operate similar programs. I believe this is a much more fair and
balanced approach, allowing everyone their due process rights while ensuring
that cities are not overburdened with costs.
I have previously reported to city council and in this forum
that injury crashes significantly decreased in Gulfport following the implementation
of this program. I have also provided financial data indicating that the
program covers its own costs but does not generate significant revenue for the
city (approximately $25,000 net estimated in 2012).
