Att: Traffic Red Light Cameras Go Up In Saint Petersburg Florida Areas

Warning when approaching a traffic lights now in the Saint Petersburg Florida Areas.

These cameras are sneaky and they will take your picture when you travel through a yellow light and when you make a right turn on right, even when nobody is walking across the street and you turn right on red these cameras will take your picture and you will get a ticket in the mail ( average ticket is $150.00 )

Don't say that I didn't tell you so when that ticket comes in the mail.. This is BS...These cameras are making thousands easy a day. The cameras should give you a ticket if you go through red lights only but these cameras go off when you travel through a yellow light.

Saint Petersburg Florida - You can legally turn right on a red light if you first come to a complete stop, right? But if there's a camera at the intersection, the rules of the road change, creating a red light double trouble.

Matthew Shepherd  knows this first-hand. He was driving on 66 street going south, approaching 38th Avenue in Saint Petersburg. When he arrived at the intersection, the light was red and he made a right-hand turn.

"I slowed down, but did not come to a complete stop," he recalled. "The next thing you know, I looked in the rearview mirror at saw the camera flashing me."
He knew exactly what was happening and paid the price -- $150 for turning right on red without first coming to a complete stop, a violation of 316.075 (1c1) of the uniform traffic code.
Every traffic camera knows
"You have to come to a complete stop at either at the stop bar clearly marked, or the crosswalk, or an intersection before you make a right-hand turn," explained Sheriff Dumdum with the County Sheriff's Office.

But that's not always the case anymore. When the legislature green-lighted red-light cameras at intersections across Florida, lawmakers changed the law. So if there's a camera watching, there's no mention of coming to a complete stop.

All it says is a driver must "make a careful and prudent right-hand turn," creating a double standard when it comes to making a right on red.

"The problem is there is a certain inequity because you are still violating the same statue," said R Silverman, a Tampa lawyer who specializes in traffic violations. "If its fair enough to allow someone to treat a red light like a yield sign while making a right if there's a camera there, then they should make it uniform."

Sheriff  Dumdum thinks lawmakers used the words "careful and prudent" to stop cities and counties from using red light cameras like an ATM machine.

Matthew Shepherd got his ticket more than two weeks ago. Now there are cameras at the intersection of 66 strret and 38th Avenue. The cameras are more forgiving than street cops.

Still, Matthew is not taking any chances.

"I come to a complete stop," he told investigative reporter Harry Mentor. "I've learned my lesson."

And the lesson for the rest of us is this: If you don't stop when making a right at the light and spot red and blue lights in your rearview mirror, it will likely cost you. But if you're caught on camera, you'll be treated kinder -- at least for the time being, says Sheriff Dumdum.

"The law is a living thing. The law constantly changes, so this could change down the road."

Don't get busted just get this..