SARASOTA, Fla. — It’s a ticket that costs hundreds of dollars with no law enforcement in sight, only the eyes in the sky. Red light cameras have been at intersections across Florida for more than 15 years. Many communities installed them as part of an effort to make our roads safer. But as Florida Investigates dug into the data, our team found that’s not always the case, even though cities are collecting millions of dollars.
We’re taking a deep dive into your safety and what happens to the money collected from the tickets as part of our investigation, “Seeing Red, Seeing Green.”
Fighting red light tickets
It’s a Sarasota intersection that Eilyn Fabregas drives through nearly every day.
“I was coming back home on Tuttle Avenue,” Fabregas said. “I was going to make a left turn onto Fruitville Avenue, and we’re all sitting in traffic like the red light was stuck on red and wouldn’t turn into green light. Minutes and minutes and a long time passed by. And when we finally did, there were a few vehicles in front of me, one being a semi truck, and I just figured I’m not going to get stuck here another 10, 15 minutes in this red light. So, I just bolted behind the semi, but the semi took longer to make the left turn, so obviously, you know, it caught me. And so, I get the notice violation, and I’m like, okay, I get it.”…