DOT Suspends Red-Light Camera Tickets, Including Springfield's

, Springfield's red light cameras have lost their ability to enforce traffic violations.

On Tuesday, June 19, the New Jersey Department of Transportation announced it was suspended ticketing from red-light cameras in 21 of 25 municipalities it approved to use the technology, including Springfield.

DOT has ordered ticketing suspended at 63 of 85 camera-monitored intersections statewide after it learned the pilot program's legislation specifies a formula to determine the proper duration of the yellow light in a traffic signal that differs from the legally required, nationally accepted formula DOT and the state's municipalities use when installing traffic signals.

Ticketing by red-light cameras has been temporarily shut down altogether in 19 of the 21 towns impacted by the DOT directive. Those 19 towns are Newark, Linden, Wayne, Palisades Park, Union Township, Springfield, Roselle Park, Rahway, Englewood Cliffs, Pohatcong, Piscataway, Edison, East Windsor, Lawrence, Cherry Hill, Stratford, Monroe, Brick and Glassboro.

DOT has also ordered ticketing from red-light cameras be suspended at single intersections in Jersey City and Woodbridge.

Springfield Mayor Ziad Shehady said the cameras were still in test phase and had not yet received final approval from the Administrative Office of the Courts.  He declined to make further comment, saying the townhip received the news late and we hadn't had a chance to discuss it.

DOT notes the difference in the two formulas may or may not require a longer duration for the yellow light at the 63 intersections.

Every traffic signal at each of the 85 intersections in the pilot program conforms to the nationally accepted standard, according to DOT. However, DOT found traffic signals at only 22 of the 85 intersections were certified in accordance with the formula specified in the legislation.

Springfield installed and activated traffic safety cameras to record red light runners in all directions of the intersection of Morris and Maple Avenues, an intersection designated as dangerous by township and New Jersey Department of Transportation officials.

Springfield enacted a test period for the cameras on Wednesday, April 18.