Red Light Cameras Coming to Bucks County

Be warned: red light cameras may be coming to parts of Bucks County.

Though not planned for Doylestown - at least not yet - they could arrive in Warminster, Middletown and Falls soon.

The Pennsylvania Legislature is wrapping up its session with a bill to allow red light cameras in the Philadelphia suburbs and in Pittsburgh, according to a release issued by AAA Mid-Atlantic.

House Bill 254 passed handily in the state Senate on June 29, with 34 yeas and only 15 nays and if signed into law by Gov. Tom Corbett, would reauthorize the red light camera program in Philadelphia through July 2017, but would also allow for the cameras to be used in Montgomery, Chester, Delaware and Bucks counties as well as Pittsburgh.

Municipalities eligible for the red light cameras would have to exceed 20,000 residents and have full-time police forces accredited by the Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association. 

That means red light cameras could be coming to:

Bucks County: Falls, Middletown and Warminster townships

Chester County: Tredyffrin, West Chester, West Goshen, West Whiteland townships

Delaware County: Media Borough; Haverford, Radnor, Upper Darby townships, City of Chester

Montgomery County: Lower Merion, Abington, Horsham, Lower Providence, Montgomery, Upper Dublin and Upper Merion townships and Norristown Borough

Details of the law:

• Fines would be set at $100 (unless a lower amount is approved by the municipality.)
• The violation would not carry any points. 
• The legislation prohibits frontal photographs of vehicles.
• The cameras can be used only for traffic enforcement, not surveillance.

What do you think? Should the suburbs have red light cameras? Let us know what you think in the comment section.