Members of Tennessee's House Transportation Committee today agreed for a two-year moratorium on new traffic cameras and renewals of current camera-enforcement contracts.
During that time, the state comptroller will conduct a study on how cameras are used across the state, including the amount of fines in each community.
But the agreement exempts Hamilton County's steep, winding "S" curves on Hixson Pike.
The committee has been in two days of talks on how to best regulate the cameras with legislators putting forth 10 proposals. Measures to outright ban the cameras or to require a portion of the fines to go toward the state's cash-strapped trauma centers failed.
However, legislators voted to cap fines at $50 and limit court costs to $10.
Hamilton County legislators on the committee, Rep. Vince Dean, R-East Ridge, and Rep. Richard Floyd, R-Chattanooga, fought hard to stave off any limits on Hixson Pike's cameras.
"Ten people were killed on that road in 30 months," Rep. Floyd said. "We have a grammar school, two churches and a subdivision on that road that were not there when it was designed."
The committee's votes aren't binding. The legislators are simply trying to craft legislation that will be further detailed then brought back before the committee for more debate and then a full House and Senate vote.
Changes are possible all throughout that process.
For complete details, see tomorrow's Chattanooga Times Free Press.