At left, a red-light camera is pictured, from Redflex Traffic Systems -- at a busy California intersection.
© MATT DAYHOFF/JOURNAL STAR / USA TODAY NETWORK + © Mike Chapman/Record Searchlight / USA TODAY NETWORK
(Hauppauge, NY) – There’s some good news/bad news for motorists on Long Island. The bad news is that if you received a red-light ticket from an automated machine recently — you still have to pay. But if you aren’t a fan of those cameras, the good news is they’re going away.
Suffolk County had a red-light camera program. It came to an abrupt end this week after the law backing it expired. December 1, the county’s 216 red-light cameras went dark. That’s because Albany lawmakers did not extend the statute that would have kept them active.
A bill in the New York State Assembly aimed to extend the program, but none of the Suffolk State Senate delegation members pitched a so-called “companion bill” — so the extension failed to pass. And as a result of Albany — and Suffolk County — failing to extend the program, it’s history.
But again the bad news for anyone who got a red-light ticket prior to December 1, you still have to pay.