Print
E-mail
Comment
Delinquent payment on red light violations leads to holds on car registrations
By AUDREY M. MARKS
Motorists who run red lights through intersections monitored by red light cameras in Sugar Land will not be able to renew their car registration if they don’t pay the traffic violation fine.
Sugar Land City Council approved a resolution Tuesday that allows the city to submit the names of those with unpaid red light violations to the Fort Bend County Tax Assessors office to have their account flagged with the Texas Department of Transportation.
By linking unpaid violations to registration holds, the Sugar Land Police Department is hoping to increase the number of motorists who will pay their violations.
“Without the ability to enforce this, ultimately over time [handing out citations for red light violations] would become fairly meaningless,” Mayor Pro Tem Michael Schiff said.
Currently the delinquent rate in Sugar Land is below 30 percent of the citations issued.
SLPD Police Chief Steve Griffith said Tuesday that more than 71 percent of violators pay their tickets.
In a June meeting, Griffith said cities that place the holds on registrations for violators with outstanding tickets increased the collection rate to 90 percent to 95 percent.
To get a hold on car registration released, the motorist will make a payment on their citation with the Revenue Department at City Hall and receive a receipt. Then they will have to take the receipt to the tax assessor’s office, as proof of payment, to have the hold released.
Sugar Land has five red light cameras installed at intersections of Lexington and SH 6, Williams Trace and HWY 59, and the remaining cameras at three approaches of HWY 59 and SH 6.
The red light cameras work by using an electronic sensor to detect when a motorist crosses the white line after the light has turned red.
A camera takes three pictures: one of the vehicle behind the white line of an intersection while the light is red, a picture of the motorist running the red light and a picture of the vehicle’s license plate.
Sugar Land has had the red light cameras installed for a year. In the first six months the cameras were installed, more than 10,000 were caught running red lights at the intersections, Griffith told the city council in June. He did not offer a new number of violators.
Sugar Land City Council approved a resolution Tuesday that allows the city to submit the names of those with unpaid red light violations to the Fort Bend County Tax Assessors office to have their account flagged with the Texas Department of Transportation.
By linking unpaid violations to registration holds, the Sugar Land Police Department is hoping to increase the number of motorists who will pay their violations.
“Without the ability to enforce this, ultimately over time [handing out citations for red light violations] would become fairly meaningless,” Mayor Pro Tem Michael Schiff said.
Currently the delinquent rate in Sugar Land is below 30 percent of the citations issued.
SLPD Police Chief Steve Griffith said Tuesday that more than 71 percent of violators pay their tickets.
In a June meeting, Griffith said cities that place the holds on registrations for violators with outstanding tickets increased the collection rate to 90 percent to 95 percent.
To get a hold on car registration released, the motorist will make a payment on their citation with the Revenue Department at City Hall and receive a receipt. Then they will have to take the receipt to the tax assessor’s office, as proof of payment, to have the hold released.
Sugar Land has five red light cameras installed at intersections of Lexington and SH 6, Williams Trace and HWY 59, and the remaining cameras at three approaches of HWY 59 and SH 6.
The red light cameras work by using an electronic sensor to detect when a motorist crosses the white line after the light has turned red.
A camera takes three pictures: one of the vehicle behind the white line of an intersection while the light is red, a picture of the motorist running the red light and a picture of the vehicle’s license plate.
Sugar Land has had the red light cameras installed for a year. In the first six months the cameras were installed, more than 10,000 were caught running red lights at the intersections, Griffith told the city council in June. He did not offer a new number of violators.
Submit a Comment
|
You must be logged in to post a comment.
|
Not yet a registered member?
Click here to become one. Comments to stories and articles on the Web site are not edited or pre-approved before appearing online. Readers posting comments are solely responsible for those comments. Comments must be germane to the story to which they apply. Online comments that are libelous, profane or personally attack another site participant can be reported as abuse using the link provided on each comment. Comments reported as abusive will be reviewed and may be removed from view, as will off-topic comments. BE CIVIL. Individuals continually posting abusive comments to the site may have their registrations revoked. |
