Updated August 7, 2023
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Major Las Vegas intersections are under video-traffic-camera surveillance; drivers routinely run lights several critical seconds after they’ve turned red from yellow; and the cameras do not impose traffic-infraction tickets-by-mail on violators.
For a little background, "red-light cameras," as they’re commonly known, capture images of vehicles that enter intersections against red lights. The cameras record the violations, after which traffic-enforcement personnel review the evidence and send out citation letters. The fines can be hefty, up to $500 in some jurisdictions. There’s a process for disputing tickets, though in many places it’s onerous; there’s also a varying degree of follow-up enforcement for violators who ignore the citations.
Red-light cameras are used all around the world, especially in the U.K. and Commonwealth countries, the U.S., and Singapore.
In the U.S., red-light cameras are in use in more than two dozen states, though their law-enforcement uses tend to be a municipal (rather than a statewide) decision, except for where their citation function is banned, such as in Nevada (and six other states).
A 1999 statewide law bans the use of remotely controlled cameras to gather evidence against drivers who run red lights or are involved in accidents. Nevada prohibits the use of all imaging equipment unless it's hand held by an officer or installed in a vehicle or facility of a law-enforcement agency.
The issue has reared its head in every legislative session since 2005, with the city of North Las Vegas unsuccessfully lobbying each time to allow the red-light cameras.
From January 2008 to January 2009, a pilot program was conducted at five busy intersections in Las Vegas (none on the Strip) to evaluate the use of red-light cameras in Nevada. Fines were $600. The data were evaluated at the end of the program, but nothing came of it.
In 2011, the Nevada Senate rejected the proposal to install red-light cameras due to the belief that it eliminates a citizen’s right to due process; the citizen is guilty until proven innocent rather than vice versa.
However, in 2012, for the first time, the Nevada Transportation Department came out in favor of repealing the 1999 ban. Since then, the issue has been raised in subsequent biennial legislative sessions, but hasn't gone anywhere.
So for now, and probably the foreseeable future, the cameras remain for surveillance purposes only, allowing commuters and drivers to make travel decisions based on road conditions. They’re one part of NDOT’s statewide network of Intelligent Transportation Systems, including freeway digital message signs and Highway Advisory Radio.