Laws on Red Light Cameras at Intersections in Wisconsin
- The mayor of Milwaukee, Wisconsin attempted to enact red light enforcement in an effort to increase safety and increase revenue generation in the face of restricted budgets in 2007. The bill died in the assembly over concerns regarding privacy and the fairness of ticketing by automated devices.
- Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle's 2009/2011 budget called for introduction of camera enforcement, but the measure was defeated in the Wisconsin Senate by Democrats. Many state Democratic representatives are vehemently opposed to automated camera ticketing, such as Representative Marlin Schneider from Wisconsin Rapids.
- One impediment to enacting camera enforcement is that Wisconsin law requires police to issue a ticket to the driver who commits the traffic violation. Red light ticket enforcement issues tickets to the registered owner of the vehicle, not the driver, and the cameras take images of the license plate, so there is no way to make an identification of the driver.
- The backlash against red light enforcement in Wisconsin seems to be part of a national trend. Part of the concern is that the red light enforcement is being contracted out to private parties, coupled with the fact that the violations occur when the driver does not make a complete stop when turning on a red light. The failure to make a complete physical stop on a turn, according to critics of these programs, is really a revenue generation issue, not a safety issue.