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On Tuesday, the Missouri Supreme Court declared the way Springfield processes its red light camera violations is unconstitutional. Currently, Springfield has a special administrative process for handling these cases. KSMU’s Matt Evans has more.
The court ruled that the city can not have an administrative process for enforcing the red-light cameras. Dan Wichmer is the City Attorney in Springfield.
“What’s left is you can still have a red-light camera system, as we read it. It just has to go through criminal court which would mean the use of facial shots. Our system is not currently set up for that.”
Wichmer says he doesn’t know how much it would cost to change to facial shot cameras, but the city council will be briefed on options through a closed-door meeting. All 13 red-light cameras throughout Springfield have been suspended for now and all pending tickets will be dismissed. Adolph Belt Jr. took this issue to the Missouri Supreme Court after getting a ticket in July 2008 that said a vehicle registered in his name had been photographed running a red light by a traffic camera. He was represented by Attorney Jason Umbarger.
“Simply owning a car that happened to go through an intersection while a light was red would result in a bill being issued. The actual red-light runner would get off scott-free.”
Umbarger says he believes the ruling will improve safety.
Wichmer says City Council will meet before anything further is decided.
For KSMU News, I’m Matt Evans.