I wonder if you could hear Ding! Dong! The Witch is Dead in Austin last week.

A bill to outlaw red light cameras was approved by Texas lawmakers on Friday. It’s now headed to Gov. Greg Abbott, who is expected to approve it.

The bill would prohibit cities from operating “red light camera” systems that catch drivers running red lights and issues them fines.

So we should all just tear up our red light camera tickets, right?

Not so fast.

Here’s the catch (or two):

• Cities will be allowed to continue to operate their red light camera systems until the expiration date of their vendor contract. Bad news for you folks in Fort Worth – the city’s contract doesn’t expire until 2026.
• Cities can still send unpaid tickets to collection agencies. In other words, the debt collector calls will continue.

For those of you with unpaid tickets, there is one piece of good news. County and state officials will no longer be able to refuse to register a vehicle because the owner has unpaid red light camera tickets.

Also, if you do have unpaid red light camera tickets, remember that they do not go on your driving record, they are not reported to insurance, and they cannot affect your credit score (not reported to the credit bureaus).

Are you happy that red light cameras will soon be a thing of the past? Leave a comment or send me an email.

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