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Goodbye, Cameras
Work crews remove red light cameras, expect to finish this week
HARLINGEN — Work crews on Tuesday began to remove red light camera housings at nine intersections in Harlingen and expect to be finished taking them down this week, Interim City Manager Gabriel Gonzalez said.
The cameras themselves, which photographed cars traveling through intersections on red lights and allowed the city to issue tickets to drivers committing those infractions, were removed from the housings after March 26. That was the date when the city’s contract with Redflex Traffic Systems, the company that owned and operated the cameras, expired.
The monitoring systems became operational in March 2007 and were hotly debated by Harlingen residents and city officials, who argued whether the ticketing systems deterred accidents, were a money-generating tool, or actually increased traffic mishaps when drivers hit the brakes to avoid being in the intersection when the traffic light changed.
Gonzalez in early February recommended that the commission extend the camera program for one year. But commissioners ultimately voted later that month not to extend the contract with Scottsdale Ariz.-based Redflex.
The remaining equipment removed this week will be returned to Redflex, Gonzalez said.
