Authored By david.morton

An amended version of state Sen. Todd Gardenhire’s traffic camera legislation goes to the floor of the Tennessee Senate, while a companion bill in the House may see similar changes either in committee or in a later conference merging the two, the Chattanooga Republican said Thursday.

Gardenhire and state Rep. Andy Holt initially sponsored the Tennessee Freedom From Traffic Cameras Act to ban automated traffic light and speed cameras. But the Senate version was amended Wednesday with Democratic support in the Transportation Committee.

Instead of an outright ban on what Gardenhire calls a “money grab” by camera companies, the Senate bill would lengthen yellow light signals from three to six seconds long. Speed camera citations would only be issued once a vehicle is traveling 15 miles per hour above the posted speed limit, he said.

Gardenhire said two other companion bills might be brought up as soon as next week but declined to identify what they would entail.

“We’re having a lot of pushback from the speed camera industry because we’re cutting down their revenue,” he said.

Senate Minority Leader Lee Harris said the amended bill brings Tennessee one step closer to eliminating traffic cameras. The Memphis Democrat said extending the duration of yellow lights will cut down on accidents and “spare citizens the frustrations of these frivolous tickets.”

“This issue is not about Democrats versus Republicans or urban versus rural areas,” he said in a news release. “It’s about restoring credibility in government, fairness for motorists and effectiveness to our public safety programs.”

The House version still has to clear the Finance Committee. Holt plans to keep pressing for a complete ban if two different bills make it to conference, the Knoxville News Sentinel reports.

While it makes for good politics in the state Legislature, law enforcement officials say the cameras prevent crashes and save lives.

“We support local jurisdictions having access to a wide range of public safety problem-solving tools, and the proposed law would dramatically restrict one that has demonstrably saved lives in our community,” Police Chief Fred Fletcher said in a prepared statement.

In Chattanooga, there is a winding section of Hixson Pike known as the S curves where there were eight traffic-related fatalities from 2000 to 2007. A speed camera was installed at River Hills following a crash that resulted in four deaths. Since then, there have been no traffic fatalities there.

The city of Chattanooga has five speed cameras and two traffic light cameras that generated $1.7 million in revenue in 2014, according to Lacie Stone, City Hall communications director. A portion of the funds, $681,000, went toward a driver education program. The remaining $1 million went to the vendor, Sensys America, she said.

“We believe the decisions on how or whether to deploy traffic cameras are best made at the local level where we can talk with our constituents who often call us about dangerous speeding,” Stone said in an email. “Bottom line-these cameras are a valuable tool to make our streets safer.”

Updated @ 9:37 p.m. on 3/19/15 to add more information.