It’s a green light for red light cameras.

After the City Council gave final approval to the cameras in their Tuesday night meeting, Jacksonville Police, The Florida Department of Transportation and the Department of Public Works are now moving forward with getting the cameras up and running.

Once the FDOT approves the layout, as they must do because the cameras will be built on poles on state roads, the hook-ups can begin.  Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Patrolling Enforcement Director Micheal Edwards expects the first one will be up and running by January.

The cameras will be installed at approaches, rather than intersections.  This mean out of the four directions at an intersection, only one or two may actually be monitored.  Right now, the company hired by the city, Redflex, is going to begin installing 25 cameras at 17 different intersections, although the contract allows for up to 50 cameras.  You can see a full list of the approaches attached to the left.

Edwards says getting these cameras up and running is an important step forward for public safety in Jacksonville.  He says there have been 30 more traffic fatalities so far this year, than at this point last year, for a total of 94.

A lot of the problems come not just from running a red light, but making a left turn on a red light.

“We refer to that as follow the leader- when they [drivers] see one make that turn on red, two or three other vehicles follow them as well,” he says.

He says, depending on what research you look at, we could see up to 50% reduction in crashes at these approaches.  The list was chosen because of the higher incident of crashes in those areas.

But Edwards knows it’s important to make the public aware of the changes, so there will be several steps to take care of that.

First, Redflex is installing signs at all the approaches which will indicate that they are now being monitored by cameras.  JSO will also initiate a public awareness campaign.

Probably the most notable warning will be for offenders themselves.  In the first 30 days a camera is installed, violators will be sent a warning, rather than any citation.  After the 30 days, you will then be mailed a notice of violation for each infraction, and there is a $158 with that notice.  If you do not pay the fine within 30 days, you are issued a new citation through the Clerk of Courts office, and that comes with a fine of $262- the same amount you would be fined if you had been caught by an officer in the first place.

Edwards says each citation is looked over by JSO before getting mailed out to ensure it is valid.  He says the police will be able to see six seconds of footage before you enter the intersection, as well as six after.

But if that is still not enough proof, violators will also be mailed a link where they can see the footage for themselves.

“It’s hard to dispute what’s captured on camera,” Edwards says.

The cameras will be installed five at a time, in five phases, although they will be activated when ready even if the others in the batch are not yet ready.  The list you see to the left shows the order the cameras will be installed.