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The state Judiciary has directed local courts to toss out the summonses because the drivers allegedly caught by the cameras weren’t notified within the required 90 days.
The cameras are coming up for renewal in December — the opportunity, their most vocal opponent says, for ripping them out.
“This wasn’t 5 or 10 or even a couple of hundred instances – this total breakdown affected almost 17,000 motorists,” state Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon O’Scanlon (R-Monmouth) said. “These companies incessantly tout the supposed accuracy and consistency of their systems – when the only thing consistent about the camera company representatives is their blatant misrepresentation of what the equipment does and how accurately it does it.”
Winnie Comfort, a spokeswoman for the state Judiciary, said a letter was sent to the affected towns — complete with a sample order so that judges can dismiss the summonses.
American Traffic Solutions (ATS), which operates nearly half of the cameras at New Jersey’s 76 intersections that have them, said an issue created by a “server configuration change” affected “a small percentage of overall red-light safety camera violations.”
“Despite the fact that all of the violations captured were reviewed and approved by law enforcement and the (Administrative Office of the Courts), out of an abundance of caution and fairness, many of violations were administratively dismissed,” ATS said in a statement.
“By working closely with the AOC, we have been able to resolve the issue,” it said.
The other cameras are operated by Redflex, which had no problems — apart from its former CEO being indicted on federal corruption charges for allegedly bribing Chicago officials to help the company win contracts there.
Earlier this year, a fired Redflex executive claimed the company bribed government officials in New Jersey and a half-dozen other states.
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