Katherine Smith, the 2017 queen of the Mobile Area Mardi Gras Association (MAMGA), was killed in a vehicle crash on Sept. 8, 2024, after a red-light runner hit her vehicle. Her death has reignited the debate over red-light cameras in Mobile, Alabama.
Katherine Smith, the 2017 queen of the Mobile Area Mardi Gras Association , was killed in a vehicle crash on Sept. 8, 2024, at the intersection of Airport Boulevard and McGregor Avenue. Smith died after a red-light runner slammer into the vehicle she was driving.. Her sudden death at age 37 has left the organization and her close friends devastated, according to Marcus Catchings, public relations officer with MAMGA.
It’s the second time in two years that Mobile officials have weighed in on the issue. In 2022, the council voted on a resolution urging the Legislature to allow the city to install cameras at intersections to primarily stop drivers from running red lights. The resolution got a mixed reception in Montgomery and went nowhere.
Other council members agreed that it’s time to give the cameras a try, whether it’s to curtail speeding or to monitor illegal trash dumping. The council is likely to discuss the issue during a 1 p.m. Public Safety Committee meeting on Tuesday.Alabama State Rp. Shane Stringer, R-Citronelle, speaks during an Alabama House Judiciary Committee meeting on Wednesday, April 19, 2023, at the State House in Montgomery, Ala. .
Rep. Mary Moore, D-Birmingham, and Rep. Juandalynn Givan, D-Birmingham, both said they have concerns about the technology taking wrongful images of people who might be ticketed for running a redlight when, in fact, they were not the actual violator. The cameras are effective in deterring a crime that affects thousands of people nationally, according to the IIHS. In 2022, 1,149 people were killed in crashes involving red light running. A whopping 107,000 people – in the U.S. were injured by a red-light runner, according to IIHS statistics.
There have been efforts to ban the cameras in Alabama, but bills doing so have not advanced through the legislative process.he Supreme Court sided with the City of Montgomery A second image will show that the vehicle has continued through the intersection while the traffic light is red.
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