Studies show that the cameras, which take photos of people blowing through intersections when the light is red, cut down on traffic accidents once the light-blowers learn to fear the cameras.

About 250 cities, 22 states, Britain, Brazil, Kazakhstan and the District of Columbia have red-light cameras. A Kane County Board committee heard a pitch from a Lombard-based red-light camera company Monday.

“The Minneapolis ordinance shifts the liability from the driver to the registered owner of the car,” Minnesota-based attorney Howard Bass said.

Bass argued the case against the cameras as a volunteer for the American Civil Liberties Union. He said the ordinance, which photographs the car and mails a ticket to the address and name listed on the car’s registration, goes against the constitutional right to a fair trial.

Sean Tomasz, informational technologies director for RedSpeed Illinois, said tickets based on cameras are not treated like citations, which is a fine on the driver, but more like parking tickets, which is a fine on the car.

According to a 2005 Federal Highway Administration report on red-light cameras, red-light running accounts for more than 95,000 crashes and about 1,000 deaths each year.

The report – available at www.tfhrc.gov/safety/pubs/05048 – said the red-light cameras cause a decrease in severe right-angle crashes, where a red-running driver hits a driver who has the green.

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