Ohio voter poll: Most still believe red light cameras should be illegal

CLEVELAND, Ohio --The majority of registered Ohio voters polled in a new SurveyUSA poll sponsored by Cleveland 19 News shows most still believe Ohio's red light cameras should be illegal.

• Illegal: 56 percent
• Legal: 31 percent
• Not sure: 13 percent

Of the 1,408 registered voters polled who said they should be illegal, 64 percent were men and 49 percent were women; 56 percent were white and 52 percent were black.

The fate of red light cameras in Ohio have been in and out of the hands of politicians for years.

The latest attempt to shut them down passed the Ohio House (65-19) this week and will now head to the Senate for consideration.

House Bill 410, if passed, would actually punish cities for using red light cameras.

The bill proposes moving camera-initiated violations to municipal court instead of being filed in a mayor's court, requiring local governments to pay the filing fee.

"Current law allows cities to require individuals to go through a city-run administrative hearing process to contest such a ticket," an Ohio House of Representatives Majority Communications Department press release explained. "That administrative hearing is not through a court, in front of a judge."

Of the 1,408 registered voters sampled for this poll question, 50 percent said they made $40,000 or less annually; 59 percent made $40,000-$79,000 annually and 28 percent said they made $80,000 or more every year.

In 2017, cleveland.com reported zip codes where at least 50 percent of residents live below 200 percent of the poverty line, there are 99 annual license suspensions for unpaid fines for every 1,000 residents.

The poverty line for a family of four is $48,600.

In contrast, cleveland.com found there are 28 suspensions for every 1,000 citizens in zip codes where at least half the population lives above 200 percent of the poverty level which has caused people to argue the red light traffic cameras disproportionately affect the poor.

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