PHOENIX — Red light cameras are one step closer to coming back to the City of Phoenix.
"We are moving forward," Mayor Kate Gallego said.
The city council just voted to move forward on a plan to install ten of them at intersections around town.
Concerning data is pushing the city council to discuss bringing them back. In the meeting, the proposal mentioned in 2023, 20 people died due to red-light runners, and over 800 people were injured.
Nearly 20% of deadly crashes in Arizona involve red-light runners.
The city is also looking to bring in three mobile speed towers.
One personal injury lawyer believes red light cameras can be part of the solution.
“Red light cameras have the impact of changing driving behavior," Joseph D'Aguanno said.
The city last used cameras in 2019. D'Aguanno says driver behavior worsened once the deterrent of tickets disappeared.
“The City of Phoenix saw a 60% reduction of red-light running when the cameras were in, and nearly a third reduction in fatalities," D'Aguanno said. "Since then, the numbers have gone up."
Some at the meeting said they'd rather the city look into speed mitigation measures rather than cameras.
"One alternative is you put in traffic circles," John McMullan said. "It will eliminate red light runners because you won't have red lights."
Others believe this is the right way forward.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s automated. It’s 2024 - things are automated. There’s no difference," Dave Midkiff said. "Don’t run a red light and you don’t need to worry about it.”
The city will now look to get bids from potential vendors as they hope the cameras can be installed and working by the fall of 2025.
You can watch the full meeting where the proposal is discussed and voted on here.