Daily Outtakes: Red Light violations jumped 54%

At his weekly press conference, I pressed Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves about whether the red light cameras were making intersections safer, pointing out that there were actually over 800 more violations in February compared to January (the warning period). However, the mayor doesn’t want the public to judge the program on two months of data.

When confronted with this increase, Mayor Reeves acknowledged the numbers but suggested it was too early to draw conclusions. He argued that one month of data isn’t enough to determine effectiveness, saying: “Well, listen, certainly I understand the media world because it’s new, there’s lots of attention around it, and in the grand scheme of life, one month is not going to tell the tale.”

He indicated that if the numbers remained high a year from now (February 2026), then they’d “have a real problem.” But he emphasized that this was just the first month of actual ticketing after the warning period, and it would likely take close to a year for full awareness to spread, especially considering visitors and tourists who may not be familiar with the cameras.

• Mayor Reeves also maintained that the high violation numbers (2,300 in February) actually validated the need for the cameras, stating: “I think it validates why we’re doing this” and called the number “alarming” but said it “fuels why we’re doing this.”

Analysis

The most significant increase occurred at the Fairfield Drive and North 9th Avenue intersection – up 583%. This could indicate that those cameras were not online for the entire month of January. However, East Gregory St @ 9th Ave was, and had an 82% in violations – is due to more tourists in February? Visitors could also explain the 57% jump at Airport Boulevard and North 9th Avenue.

While Mayor Reeves has spent considerable time pointing out the problems at North 9th and Bayou Boulevard, the overall violations were about the same.

The accurate measure of whether red light cameras improve public safety will be if we see a reduction in traffic accidents in these intersections.  In December 2023, when the mayor announced he wanted to study red light violations, he stated he selected these intersections based on crash data collected over the past 10 years.  By June 30, we should have sufficient data to see if the cameras have led to fewer crashes. Meanwhile, the City Hall must endure complaints about increased traffic tickets.