ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Nine investigates red light cameras Wednesday at the intersections where the most drivers get caught, and how much it's costing them.
The fines are adding up to millions of dollars. WFTV found out how it's spent, and why some drivers who got citations could later get refunds.
Red-light cameras at Conroy Road and Vineland Road catch more than 40 drivers per day, or nearly two per hour.
Some drivers clearly run through the light, but others are questionable.
"There are situations where you're not actually running a light you just coming through that light and it is yellow and it turns red and you're caught," driver Keiona Bess said.
Keiona Bess paid a $125 citation. She was just one of the 16,314 drivers caught by the cameras at the intersection of Conroy Road and Vineland Road in 2009. It's Central Florida's most heavily-cited red light camera intersection.
It is one of the local intersections which brought in fines of $1.5 million in just the past year.
"I mean that is just wrong," driver Dawn Decosta said.
WFTV found at least $3.9 million collected from drivers across the area in 2009 alone.
In many places that cash goes straight into the basic operating fund, paying for everything from salaries to supplies. Some cities like Palm Bay use it to fund road-work and the police athletic league.
"If the government is collecting money from a lot of people to fund it's operation, that's a tax," said Aubrey Jewett, UCF Political Science Professor.
Jewett says some drivers who got cited could still get their money back.
"It's the judicial equivalent of a slam dunk," she said.
State lawmakers legalized red light cameras this spring. But people who got tickets before the bill became law could be entitled to refunds through a class-action lawsuit.
For now, Orlando is the only local city holding red light camera collections unspent in a bank account that may be useful if that class-action suit prevails.
City managers say they collect that money in the interest of safety. Red light runners killed 76 people in Florida and injured more than 5,000 others in the past year.
State studies show traffic cameras prevent t-bone collisions and reduce crashes with injuries by up to 25 percent, but other studies show they can also increase the number of rear-end collisions.
WFTV
