A New Jersey lawmaker has announced that there is new evidence to further damage the credibility of one of the companies operating red light cameras in the Garden State.

Red Light Camera
(Dan Alexander, Townsquare Media NJ)
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Since the inception of the red-light camera pilot program in New Jersey, Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon (R-Red Bank) has been its staunchest and most vocal opponent. On Thursday, he said American Traffic Solutions (ATS) red-light cameras had technical problems from May 28, 2014 through June 30, 2014. Violations were recorded and vehicle owners were identified, but apparently never told they could be charged.

"It's not just a few folks. It's not just a couple of hundreds. It's 17,000 instances of this over the period of a month," said O'Scanlon. "The fact that they were not notified is outrageous. This is another nail in the coffin of these companies and the people operating them."

The courts have directed that the tickets be dismissed. O'Scanlon applauded the courts for taking action, but he also called on towns that have the red-light cameras to not pay ATS for its services during the glitch, because the services were not being properly provided. The Assemblyman also demanded that ATS pay any and all costs associated with the situation.

A response statement was released by Charles Territo, ATS senior vice president of Communications, Marketing and Public Affairs:

"Recently a technical issue was discovered that impacted a small percentage of overall red-light safety camera violations. A server configuration change affected the ATS violation processing system and led to a delay in notices being mailed. Despite the fact that all of the violations captured were reviewed and approved by law enforcement and the AOC, out of an abundance of caution and fairness, many of violations were administratively dismissed. By working closely with the AOC, we have been able to resolve the issue. Each year thousands of potential violations are rejected for any number of reasons during the review process to ensure that the programs err on the side of the driver."

The cameras do not improve safety and now there is evidence that the technology is not reliable either, O'Scanlon said.

"This is a massive meltdown in the operations of ATS one of the two major red light camera companies operating in New Jersey," O'Scanlon said.

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