RED BANK, Tennessee - The controversial red light camera program in Red Bank will cease to exist after years of public scrutiny.
On January 19, Red Bank is pulling the plug on the red light cameras at the intersection of Dayton Blvd. and Signal Mountain Rd. and motorist like Malone Everett could not be happier.
"I don't like them. They caught me the very first time. That was years ago," said Everett.
Everett isn't the only person who's happy to see them go. Many unsuspecting people were getting tickets in the mail for either making right hand turns or driving through the intersection thinking they beat the light before it turned red. Before long, the city developed a negative reputation from motorists.
The program was causing such a stir that even state representative and Red Bank resident, Richard Floyd had to complain.
"I never saw anything fair about somebody who stops or thought they stopped and safely turned right on red but maybe rolled through it at one mile per hour. But they got the same $50 ticket that somebody could have come through that same red light at a 100 mph and got the same ticket," said Floyd.
The traffic cameras were originally put in place in the S-curve area in Hixson to ticket people who were dangerously driving on roads that were too curvy to navigate at a high rate of speed. The presence of those cameras cut down the number of fatalities in that area. Then cameras were placed at the intersection of Dayton Blvd. and Signal Mountain Rd.
"Everybody was getting tickets and it started to hurt businesses in Red Bank," said Chattanooga resident Carolyn Latiff who frequently drives into Red Bank.
Despite the general thought toward the red light cameras as a bad idea, Virginia Everett, says she's sorry to see it go.
"I'm for anything that will make you more aware going slower and being more careful of other vehicles." she said.
After January 19, the only way a motorist will receive a ticket at that intersection is if a police officer catches them in the act of running the red light.
