Kansas City could bring back red light cameras to ticket drivers. Why did it stop?
.JPG "Red light cameras might come back to Kansas City after St. Louis passed a 2024 bill reinstating them.")
After a decade without red light cameras in Kansas City, a new ordinance on the other side of the state could open the door to their return.
From 2009 to 2013, Kansas City had 29 cameras at 17 of the city’s most treacherous intersections, according to Star reporting in 2015. Annually, the city issued 33,000 to over 50,000 citations from these cameras during this period and earned a net revenue around $2 million per year.
A 2012 Kansas City police report stated the cameras reduced the number of wrecks and traffic violations at these intersections. But the program came to a stop in 2013.
Twenty-two states plus the District of Columbia have laws permitting the use of red light cameras, according to the Governers Highway Safety Association.
Here’s what you need to know about red light cameras in Missouri.
Why are there no red light cameras in Missouri’s major cities?
Kansas City ended the program in 2013 after a lawsuit elsewhere in the state.
In 2015, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled in separate rulings that two cities’ red light camera laws were invalid. Part of the reasoning was that the procedures assumed the car’s owner was the one driving the vehicle, thus putting the burden of proof on the defendant, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Hannibal, Missouri, is the only city that’s camera system was still considered legal under the Supreme Court decisions.
Why might red light cameras return to Kansas City?
Last month, St. Louis Mayor Tishuara Jones approved a bill that would bring red light cameras back to the city. The bill states that the new cameras would take a photo of the driver’s face to help show who was driving the vehicle.
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas told FOX4 that his city might consider similar legislation.
“We will go through that conversation, looking at people’s civil rights, making sure we go through a long process with it.”
What are the cameras now at Kansas City intersections?
These devices are called “vehicular detection cameras,” according to Courtney Stephens, Kansas City Public Works spokesperson. They are used to change lights from red to green and improve the timing of traffic signals along a street, Stephens wrote in an email.
Editor’s note: This story originally misstated the amount Kansas City received from red light cameras. It has been updated with the correct figure.
Do you have more questions about traffic in the Kansas City area? Ask the Service Journalism team at kcq@kcstar.com.
This story was originally published May 29, 2024 at 6:00 AM.
