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2015 in Review: Promise to remove red-light cameras in Brooksville will come to pass in October

 
Red-light camera monitoring will end on Halloween.
Red-light camera monitoring will end on Halloween.
Published Dec. 30, 2015

Ending the city's controversial red-light camera program was one of the first priorities for the Brooksville City Council in 2015.

Yet, as the new year dawns, the cameras are still snapping photos of red-light runners and people turning right on red too quickly, and the citations are still landing in mailboxes.

That will keep happening for another 10 months, ending just days before Brooksville elects new council members.

Voting to end the program landed Brooksville in court with camera operator Sensys America in a dispute over when the contract with the company actually would expire.

While waiting for the timing issue to be settled in court, the council decided to help out some of the people who were miffed at getting tickets for turning right on red without fully stopping. Council members raised the speed limit of turning right on red from 5 mph to 10 mph. That move made some people ask why there was a speed limit at all, when people were supposed to come to a complete stop before turning on a red light.

The city and Sensys settled their lawsuit late last year with an end date for the cameras on Halloween and a promise from the company that it would not seek other fees and lost profits from the city.

Barbara Behrendt, Times staff