Sponsor of Bill Eliminating Red-Light Cameras Himself Was Caught Running Light

The sponsor of legislation that for all intents and purposes would ban red-light cameras in Ohio himself was caught on camera illegally running a light in 2009, the Columbus Dispatch reported on Tuesday.

The video, taken at Fourth and Town streets in downtown Columbus, resulted in state Sen. Bill Seitz, R-Cincinnati, received a ticket on Nov. 13, 2009 for a rolling right turn on red, the Dispatch reported.

The senator’s bill, already passed in the Senate, would require police to post an officer at every intersection equipped with a traffic camera. This requirement essentially would make the traffic cameras cost-prohibitive to use, according to police sources.

The Dispatch article says Senate Bill 342 is set for a possible House committee vote Wednesday morning that could send the bill to a full floor vote. The committee took testimony on the bill Tuesday morning.

Asked about the 2009 citation, Seitz told the Columbus Dispatch that his opposition to traffic cameras had nothing to do with what he characterized as a “ticky-tacky ticket” in 2009. He pointed out that he started sponsoring bills against traffic cameras years before he got nabbed himself.

Seitz maintains that out-of-state video camera manufacturers and sellers profit from the devices, which communities use to raise revenue.

“That’s using the power of the municipality to line the pockets of the out-of-state camera companies,” he claimed in the Dispatch article.

The senator cited an overwhelming Cleveland vote last month to require police officers to be stationed at camera-equipped intersections.

Some Ohio police leaders aren’t thrilled about Sen. Seitz’s bill.

Columbus Police Lt. Brent Mull testified at a press conference Tuesday morning, with the Dispatch article quoting him as saying that 126 officers would need to be pulled from neighborhood patrols and other areas to staff an officer with every traffic camera.

Unlike motorists who are cited based on film showing they ran a red light, Mull said, those pulled over by officers would have to pay a higher fine and also receive points on their driver’s license, something that doesn’t happen with traffic-camera citations.

The Columbus police officer slammed legislators for ignoring law enforcement in Ohio, according to the Dispatch story. He was quoted stating: “They effectively do not want to hear from their law-enforcement partners, the citizens of Columbus or the citizens of the state of Ohio.”