When it comes to red-light cameras, New Jersey Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon says the people in his state have had enough. Nothing, he says, has generated more feedback in his five years as a legislator than his fight against the cameras.

“People realize the government is institutionalizing a system to rip them off,” says O’Scanlon, a Republican. The public is upset and problems in New Jersey led to a brief suspension of its traffic cameras last summer.

The outcry goes far beyond New Jersey. Traffic cameras spark heated debate nearly everywhere they are considered, and they are on legislative agendas throughout the country. This year, lawmakers in 22 states have filed more than 100 bills dealing with traffic cameras …

Hawaii state Senator Will Espero, a Democrat, hopes to start a pilot program for red-light cameras on his home island of Oahu. He thinks red-light cameras would improve public safety. Espero says he sees cars running red lights all the time, but if there were cameras, he says, motorists would recognize “yellow doesn’t mean speed up, it means slow down. …”

—Chad Blair