Red light cameras may be up and running in the city of Midway, but for the next few weeks, violators won’t be paying any fines.
City Manager Auburn Ford says the red light cameras are in a couple of locations around Midway.
“They’re located at Commerce Blvd across from Flying J,” said Ford. “You’ve got two sets of cameras there: eastbound and westbound traffic. The other ones are located still on Highway 90 at Brickyard Road at the other travel plaza in the same way, east and west traffic, right at Brickyard Road.”
Back in February, the Midway City Council passed an ordinance establishing the red light cameras. And, Ford says it was needed.
“Based on some fatalities and some accidents at these two travel plazas where a lot of truck traffic is occurring, we thought it was a good idea, once we were approached by ‘Census America’ to add a safety aspect to these two travel plazas,” he added.
Ford says it’s at no cost to the city, and Census America—the red light camera company they’re contracting with—is absorbing the cost.
For now, Midway is under what’s known as a 30-day warning period, where red light camera violators will only get a warning.
“Get folks acclimated and give them fair notice to drive a little bit safer, and August 15th will be the real deal.”
Midway Police Officer Paul DeRibas will be among the officers monitoring red light camera violators and issuing citations, starting mid-August. He cites Brooksville, Gulf Breeze, and Milton as successfully running red light cameras. DeRibas says he’s happy Midway now will join them—especially since those roadways are well-travelled.
“Tourists as well as our residents…Hundreds and hundreds of people traveled to the city of Midway every day, stopping for gas, stopping for travel centers,” he said.
Red light camera violators will pay a fine of $158. Meanwhile, a bill that would have banned red light cameras statewide died during this year’s Florida legislative session.
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