The Truth About Texas Red Light Cameras

Red light cameras have been bothering drivers for years. Even though they've been illegal in Texas since 2019, you may have still seen one or two recently. As a matter of fact, the city of Humble's contract for red light cameras doesn't expire until next month.

Byron Schermbeck with the Texas Campaign for Liberty told KTRH, "The argument from the pro-red light camera folks was, 'We couldn't pass a ban, because it would end the contracts for the red light cameras.'" This resulted in various jurisdictions like Humble being grandfathered in.

Schermbeck says the good news is if one of these last few remaining cameras catches you and sends you a ticket, you don't actually have to pay. He said, "We went on a campaign called 'Trash Your Ticket' to let people know that they could just throw these things away, and nothing of consequence would happen. That continued after the ban."

Schermbeck says these tickets were never actually enforceable under state law, and if you don't pay them, it won't even hurt your credit.