$4.2m Settlement for South Jersey Drivers Given Red-Light Tickets

As many as 500,000 drivers who received tickets for allegedly running red lights will be contacted as part of a settlement deal with municipalities. The details come after a class action lawsuit was launched, claiming that the tickets were inaccurate and that the cameras failed to comply with the state’s Pilot Red Light Camera Program.

The towns and ATS deny the allegations, but have agreed to the settlement.

The settlement applies to any driver who was ticked on or before August 1, 2012 across eighteen different municipalities. A state database of tickets sent and paid is now being used to alert drivers to the settlement via postcard. Multiple advertisements will also be placed in area newspapers. Drivers will be able to submit a form by the deadline of October 28, 2013 to claim up 10% of the ticket cost – or $8.50 from the $85 penalty for a red light violation. The settlement money is coming from American Traffic Solutions Inc., the cameras’ operator.

The lawsuit against ATS and the 18 municipalities accused the operator of failing to maintain regular six-month inspections of the equipment, including monitoring the accuracy of the cameras. Motorists have claimed that the cameras failed to properly record when a light was yellow, rather than red, and that in many cases drivers have been incorrectly fined for running red lights. The towns and ATS deny the allegations, but have agreed to the settlement. The agreement remains subject to a final approval by a judge in the U.S. District Court in Trenton, expected to be given September 12. The lawsuit was first filed in March 2013.

The affected New Jersey towns are Brick, Deptford, East Brunswick, East Windsor, Jersey City, Lawrence, Linden, Glassboro, Gloucester Township, Monroe, Palisades Park, Piscataway, Pohatcong, Rahway, Roselle Park, Union, Wayne and Woodbridge.