I’m sure most of my fellow Houstonians have heard or noticed by now that there are fifty brand-spanking-new red light cameras in and around the Houston area. If you haven’t heard, the cameras automatically send you a ticket of your pretty face and license plate in the amount of $75.00 for every red-light-running infraction. The city of Houston and HPD would like you to believe that this was all in the need of safety; however the latest financial forecast numbers prove otherwise.
Yesterday evening the Houston Police Department’s Executive Assistant Chief Martha Montalvo estimated that the new cameras will bring in revenue of $10,000,000 in 2008. That is over 133,000 tickets at 75 bucks a pop and over 2600 tickets per year per camera, or nearly eight per day. The Houston Police Department stands to make a $7,000,000 profit in 2008 off of the cameras, with half going to a general state fund and the other half going directly into their pockets. From September of 2006 until June of 2007 the cameras have brought in $3.5 million dollars in fines, not bad considering the final cameras just went up last month.
It was also divulged that the new red light cameras have an annual operating cost of $3,000,000 per year; I wonder who gets to dip their greedy hands into that huge cookie jar? Well, don’t let the city get away with highway robbery (bad pun, I know). Familiarize yourself with this map showing the location of all fifty of the picture taking gold mines so you don’t have to fork over your seventy-five hard earned bucks to the lazy bastards in city hall… or if you really want to make a difference feel free to send your city councilman or state and congressional representatives a nasty email letting them know just how you feel.
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