Schertz city leaders have decided to discontinue its existing pact on the use of traffic signal cameras meant to catch red-light-running motorists.

City Council voted June 12 to terminate a 3-month-old agreement between the city and Arizona-based American Traffic Solutions, citing a lack of efficiency from recently passed state legislation on the matter.

The firm has been busy implementing red-light camera programs in several Texas municipalities. Advocates have said such a program helps enforce local laws and reduce accidents.

But critics have countered the cameras violate drivers’ rights to privacy and could potentially increase the risk of rear-end collisions. Critics also charge that such programs are another way for a city to generate revenue.

The Texas Legislature had until recently been reluctant to sign off on final legislation for red-light cameras, piling on an array of bill amendments that legislators said were designed to strengthen such local programs.

The new law, effective Sept. 1, requires municipalities to conduct traffic engineering studies at each intersection where cameras are proposed, to determine whether design modifications could cut the amount of violations.

In addition to limiting a violation ticket to $75, new legislation also requires cities to donate half the citation revenue to a regional trauma center. Such a citation is civil and not criminal in nature, meaning the offense will never appear on the driver’s record.

The new law mandates warning signs at least 100 feet away from a camera-held intersection. The law also ends municipal authority on red-light cameras Sept. 1, 2009 until the Legislature decides to extend authority thereafter.

Some cities are considering delaying the implementation of red-light cameras while others are dropping them altogether. Additionally, the state is prohibiting municipal use of speed cameras, although the Texas Department of Transportation is looking into deploying photo radar on state highways federal gas tax money.

“It really was a bad deal for cities. Just keeping up with the added paperwork would’ve made it counter-productive,” City Manager Don Taylor said of the legislation. “We weren’t going to do this for the revenue, but rather for the sake of improving public safety.”