A company looking to install red-light cameras in cities across the state released a poll it commisioned that shows 77 percent of New Yorkers support having the cameras installed at intersections.
The Scottsdale, Ariz., company, American Traffic Solutions, hired the polling firm, Public Opinion Strategies, to conduct the poll after the company recently won the bid to install the cameras in Nassau County.
But the poll, conducted in the communities where the cameras are expected to be installed, also found that 51 percent of New Yorkers haven’t even heard about the issue. And the cameras were less popular upstate.
The poll was conducted with 600 New Yorkers.
The state Legislature in April approved the red-light cameras as a way to nab speeders in Long Island, Yonkers, Rochester and Buffalo. New York City was able to add more cameras.
But so far only Nassau and New York City have them operational, while the other cities are still going through the contract review process. American Traffic Solutions, which has the contract in Nassau and New York City, is represented in Albany by powerful lobbying firm Patricia Lynch and Associates.
There has been pushback to the cameras in Nassau County, with drivers complaining about getting ticketed for making right turns on red—an unannounced part of the program.
