- March 5, 2025
National attention has fallen on Florida’s traffic laws in wake of a study that accuses the state of shortening yellow light interval times at red-light-camera-enforced intersections, allegedly generating more revenue for the state by issuing more traffic citations.
Despite this, yellow light intervals at Palm Coast’s intersections have either increased or remained steady since 2008.
“We’ve always either met or exceeded the state’s standard for yellow lights,” said Cindi Brownfield, communications and marketing manager for the city.
Yellow light intervals are calculated using a combination of the posted speed limit on a given road, the size of the intersection in question, the grade of the road and other factors.
Before 2010, Florida Department of Transportation regulations said cities must use either the posted speed limit or the 85th percentile of drivers’ actual speed, whichever was greater. When the state Legislature passed the 2010 Mark Wandell Act, which regulated red light cameras in the state, the “whichever is greater” portion of the rule was dropped, said Dick Kane, communications director for the FDOT.
Kane said the agency’s policy for red light camera regulations is still within federal regulations without that phrase. The reason “whichever is greater” was dropped from the rules was because the Legislature decided not to require that cities conduct traffic studies to justify the installation of any red light camera.
“FDOT subsequently removed the ‘whichever is greater’ language from its Traffic Engineering Manual because the (red light camera) law did not require a traffic study,” Kane said in a statement. “Therefore, you cannot determine the 85% (of drivers’ actual speed) comparison.”
10 News, a media outlet out of Tampa Bay, said it found a number of communities across the state that have since shortened the lights, saying that the modified FDOT language generated more red light camera citations, and therefore, more revenue from the cameras at the expense of drivers' safety. The investigation has since made its way to a national stage.
The state does not earn any revenue from red light infractions. Running a red light in Florida generates a $158 citation. Of that citation, $100 is sent to the state Department of Revenue’s general fund; $10 is sent to the state’s health emergency medical services trust fund; $3 is given to the state’s brain and spinal cord injury trust fund; and $45 is distributed to the city in which a violation occurred (or, if it happened in an unincorporated area, to the county in which the offense occurred).
Palm Coast has received $1.4 million from red light citations between June 2008, when the cameras were first installed, and December 2012. The money is used for traffic signals, street sign replacement, administrative costs for managing the red light program, and other road-releated expenses, according to Chris Quinn, finance director for the city.
Despite national criticism, yellow light intervals in Palm Coast have remained much the same since 2008. Most intersections with red light cameras enforcing them use the same yellow light interval as they did five years ago, while some have increased, according to charts provided by the city's traffic engineer.
When Palm Coast installed the first of its red light cameras in 2008, the city assessed each of its intersections and adjusted the yellow light speed accordingly. Most intersections either kept their original yellow light times or increased them by less than 0.5 seconds. The only exception was at the intersection of Belle Terre Parkway and Easthampton Boulevard, where yellow light times were decreased by between 0.2 seconds and 0.5 seconds.
The reasoning for this, Brownfield said, is because if yellow light increments are too long, more motorists tend to run them, creating a safety hazard.
Brownfield said Palm Coast examined its yellow light intervals in 2010 when the standards changed. The last time the city reviewed its yellow light intervals was in late February and early March.
Kane said the state is considering increasing its standards for yellow lights by 0.4 seconds to increase traffic safety. If that happens, yellow light intervals would likely increase in Palm Coast, too.
“We try to stay close to the state’s standards for safety reasons,” Brownfield said.
