New York Criminal Defense Attorney Blog

On January 18, 2012, Steven Rivera, a 25 year old resident of Ossining, was arrested by the New York State Police and charged for his role in a fatal car accident on June 26, 2011 on Interstate 287 in Yonkers. In the incident, which police have charged was an “Unauthorized Speed Contest”, two people were killed in the vehicle Rivera was reportedly racing, Travis Clark, 27, and Jillisa McCarthy, 20. Clark was the driver of the other vehicle and Ms. McCarthy a front seat passenger.

Allegedly, Rivera and his friend Clark were racing at speeds over 100 m.p.h when Clark lost control of his vehicle and struck a signpost, tearing the post from the pavement. Initially, Mr. Rivera gave a statement to police but did not acknowledge any role in the fatal crash other than as a witness, according to the New York State Police.

Mr. Rivera is now charged with three misdemeanors. The first is “Unauthorized Speed Contest”, an unclassified misdemeanor under Section 1182 of the New York Vehicle & Traffic Law. If found guilty of this charge, the maximum penalty is up to 30 days in jail, a $300.00 to $525.00 fine, or both. He is also charged with Reckless Endangerment under section 120.25 of the Penal Law of the State of New York, which is a class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to 1-3 years in jail and a $1,000 fine. Lastly, Rivera is charged with Falsely Reporting an Incident under section 240.50 of the Penal Law, also a Class A misdemeanor with the same possible penalties.

Due to the two fatalities in this case, a New York State Police spokesperson noted that the charges against Mr. Rivera could be superseded and enhanced, depending on a determination by the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office.

Mr. Rivera has been released on his own recognizance and for the moment, his case is pending in the Yonkers City Court. If the charges against Mr. Rivera were upgraded to felonies, this would be beyond the jurisdiction of the local City Court in Yonkers and the case would be transferred to the Westchester County Court in White Plains.

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Since October of 2010, 37 red light cameras have been installed in the City of Yonkers at 16 intersections. These cameras are also known as “Intersection Safety Cameras.” The question I am addressing in this article is, do red light cameras actually improve safety by deterring red light violations, or is the true motivation behind these cameras to obtain revenue for the municipality?

As background, New York City has utilized red light cameras since 1993, (garnering close to 100 million dollars in revenue for the City in that 18 year period), and they are now installed throughout New York's five boroughs, Nassau and Suffolk Counties, and Rochester. Across the United States, big cities including Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington D.C, are now deploying these cameras.

Red light cameras automatically photograph vehicles as they pass through red lights. The camera is connected to the traffic signal and follows the vehicle before, during, and as it passes through the red light, purportedly getting a clear photo of the rear license plate when the transgression is complete. The photographs are reviewed by police officers to confirm that the infraction was committed. If so, the owner of the vehicle (which of course may not be the motorist who actually committed the violation) is sent a notice demanding payment of $50.00 by a certain date, with an additional $25.00 penalty for late response.

Only emergency vehicles including police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances are exempted from red light violations.

Back in May of 2009, the New York Times published an article entitled “Revenue Low, Yonkers Dreams Of Green From Red Light Cameras”, which made the motivation behind the cameras fairly apparent. In the article, a Yonkers City spokesman noted that Yonkers expected to have a budget shortfall of 100 million dollars in 2010, and was hoping to reap millions of dollars in revenue from the fines generated by the cameras. The revenue was to be split with a company called “American Traffic Solutions” (ATS), which was allegedly selected after a competitive bidding process to furnish, install, operate and maintain the cameras. In two recent articles by Phil Reisman of the Journal News, the first of which is entitled “Money Is The Motive For City’s Red-Light Cameras” on January 5, 2012, Mr. Reisman explores the relationship between Yonkers officials such as Mike Spano and Mayor Phil Amicone, and ATS. He points out that Spano was part of a lobbying firm, Patricia Lynch Associates, that was paid a whopping $400,000 to push the red light camera plan, and that ATS also made campaign contributions to both Spano and Amicone.

So the question remains, do the cameras increase safety or is this simply all about the money?

Continue reading " Red Light Cameras—Safety Enhancer Or Revenue Inducer? " »