Daytona Beach FL, RLC's coming soon!

DAYTONA BEACH -- If you're in the habit of running red lights, get ready to start paying fines or stopping if the light isn't green or yellow.

Daytona Beach city commissioners voted Wednesday night to start a red light camera system.

The first five cameras will go up in January or February, and five more will be installed a few weeks later.

"If it changes behavior, it can't be anything but good for the city," said City Commissioner Pam Woods.

"Big brother needs to be watching," said Mayor Glenn Ritchey.

City officials haven't decided yet which 10 intersections will get the cameras. For the first 30 days the cameras are up, drivers will only get warnings.

After that, motorists will face $158 fines. The state will collect $83 from those fines, and the city will take the remaining $75.

The city will pay a vendor to install the cameras and run the program for $4,600 per camera per month.

City officials expect more than six violations per camera per day, and it would take only two violations for the city to break even financially.

Some at Wednesday's meeting opposed to the cameras said money seems to be the prime motivation.

"It seems very clear it's largely driven by financials," said City Commissioner Derrick Henry, who along with Commissioner Shiela McKay-Vaughan voted against the cameras on the 5-2 vote.

"The state's portion of it is just another way to tax citizens," Henry said. "I'm not really convinced this enhances safety."

Michael McGuire, a Palm Coast resident who said he owns property in Daytona Beach, told commissioners he thinks the cameras are a financial disincentive for cities to stop red light running because municipalities make money off them.

"I urge the commission if they need the money to find another way to do it," McGuire said.

Another local man said "it's a scam by cities to get money off the citizens" that will eventually be ruled unconstitutional.

Most people at the meeting spoke in favor of the cameras.

"It is a safety issue, and it is a money issue," said Doug Hall, a Daytona Beach resident who has a visual impairment. "People pay attention when they have to pay something. I think the fine should be even higher. I don't care if it's one person or 1,000 people who are saved. To me it's worth it."

Police Chief Mike Chitwood said the cameras will only be used to fine people who commit "gross violations."

"It's not about hammering. It's about behavior modification," Chitwood said.

The commission's vote enters the city into a three-year contract. McKay-Vaughan, who cast one of the two lone no votes, said she would have preferred a shorter period to begin with. She said she also would have preferred a different approach to prevent red light violators, possibly with a public awareness campaign.

In other action, five of the seven commissioners voted to buy a 1.65-acre parcel of land on the southeast side of the International Speedway Boulevard bridge. The city will pay $600,000 for the land, and hopes to sell it to one or more buyers who would develop it in ways the city believes will revitalize the area.