City of Toledo gets $787,839 from red light and speed camera tickets

2/14/2011

The city of Toledo collected $787,839 from automatic red light and speeding camera violations in 2010, the Bell administration said Monday night.

A previous report from Toledo Police dated Feb. 10 said the 2010 collection totaled $706,505.

The same report said there were 892 of the tickets contested in 2010 and of those, 239 were overturned.

The city operated a month-long “targeted enforcement” of red light-camera fines near the end of last year to boost its collections. The 2010 budget included collecting $1.2 million from unpaid red light and speed camera fines to help keep the books balanced.

The city said last year is was owed approximately $6 million dating back to the beginning of the program in 2000. Only 44 percent of those who are ticketed for the camera violations pay the fines.

Vehicles with two or more unpaid photo enforcement citations were immobilized or towed under the blitz. Redflex Traffic Systems Inc. of Arizona operates the camera system for the city.

Under a city law that took effect April 1, 2010, police are able to immobilize a vehicle after a fine has gone unpaid for 21 days. Having the apparatus removed costs the owner $75 plus the outstanding fine. A boot is clamped onto a wheel to prevent the vehicle from being moved. A vehicle can be towed after two or more outstanding violations of the photo enforcement devices. The tow costs $125, and storage at the city tow lot is billed at $15 a day.