The Ohio House of Representatives voted 72-23 to approve a bill by state Representative Jim Raussen (R-Springdale) today that would effectively prohibit the use of red light cameras and speed cameras in the state. Raussen's legislation would only allow the devices to be used when a police officer is present to witness the offense and issue the citation to the driver.

The House also voted 92-4 to add a provision standardizing yellow signal timing to the ITE recommendations. The amendment's sponsor, Rep. Shawn Webster, cited the Texas Transportation Institute study showing longer yellow times decreased accidents.

Raussen argued that the photo enforcement represented, "a program that at best has questionable results." He cited cases in Ohio where individuals had improperly received tickets for offenses they did not commit as well as studies which show red light camera use actually increased the number of accidents where they were used.

Rep. Peter Ujvagi (D-Toledo) agreed that some abuses have happened, but "we should not punish those communities that are doing the right thing." He cited evidence from the Toledo police showing a reduction in violations where the cameras were used.

The cities of Dayton, Middletown, Northwood, Sylvania Township, and Toledo currently use red light cameras. Northwood also uses speed cameras.

Redflex Holdings (ASX: RDF), provides vehicle monitoring and enforcement services for government, police, and traffic departments globally.

Redflex operates primarily in Australia and the United States of America, and was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange in January 1997^[1]. Redflex Holdings consists of two distinct companies; Redflex Traffic Systems Pty. Ltd. covering Australia and global operations and Redflex Traffic Systems Inc. covering the US market. The company works with partners in other countries, such as ChinaTel Group in the Peoples Republic of China.^[2]

Redflex is based in South Melbourne, Victoria, Australia where it runs its systems engineering operation as well as its system integration and research and development programs. As at December 2008, Redflex Holdings employed more than 480 people in Australia and the USA.^[3].=

Redflex operates fixed and mobile camera units.^[4] Twelve California cities have dropped contracts with Redflex, citing ineffectiveness in reducing crashes as well as in revenue generation.^[5] Despite lobbying residents,^[6] Redflex has lost in every ballot against photo enforcement of traffic laws where the referendums allowing voting on the matter were not legally challenged.^[7]