{"id":63925,"date":"2026-03-19T17:42:26","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T21:42:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=63925"},"modified":"2026-03-19T17:42:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T21:42:30","slug":"while-a-broward-county-judge-recently-ruled-that-red-light-camera-citations-are-unconstitutional-lakeland-is-not-currently-affected-by-this-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/03\/19\/while-a-broward-county-judge-recently-ruled-that-red-light-camera-citations-are-unconstitutional-lakeland-is-not-currently-affected-by-this-decision\/","title":{"rendered":"While a Broward County judge recently ruled that red-light camera citations are unconstitutional, Lakeland is not currently affected by this decision"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

While a Broward County judge recently ruled that red-light camera citations are unconstitutional, Lakeland is not currently affected<\/strong> by this decision. Because the ruling came from a county-level court, it only applies to that specific case in Broward and does not automatically change the law for the rest of Florida.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Why the Broward Ruling is Different<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

On March 3, 2026, Judge Steven P. DeLuca dismissed a ticket in Sunrise, Florida, arguing that the state’s red-light camera law (the Mark Wandall Traffic Safety Act<\/em>)<\/sup> violates due process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • The Issue:<\/strong> The judge ruled that the law unfairly forces the vehicle owner<\/strong> to prove they weren’t driving, rather than requiring the government<\/strong> to prove who was behind the wheel.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • The Classification:<\/strong> He labeled these violations as “quasi-criminal,” meaning the state should have a higher burden of proof\u2014”beyond a reasonable doubt”\u2014to identify the driver.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    The Situation in Lakeland<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Lakeland is actually moving in the opposite direction. Rather than scaling back, the city is in the middle of a significant expansion of its automated enforcement:<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • New Cameras Active:<\/strong> As of January 2026<\/strong>, the City Commission approved eight new red-light camera locations, including busy intersections like Memorial Blvd at Florida Ave<\/strong> and Bartow Rd at New Jersey Rd<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • School Zone Speeding:<\/strong> Lakeland also recently launched its School Zone Speed Safety Program<\/strong>. These cameras began issuing $100 fines (after an initial warning phase) to drivers going more than 10 mph over the limit when school flashers are active.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Vision Zero:<\/strong> City officials, including Mayor Bill Mutz, maintain that these cameras are a “force multiplier” for the police and a key part of the “Vision Zero” plan to eliminate traffic fatalities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      What\u2019s Next?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

      For the Broward ruling to affect Lakeland, one of two things would need to happen:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \n
      1. An Appeal:<\/strong> If the Broward case is appealed and a higher court (like the District Court of Appeal or the Florida Supreme Court) upholds the judge’s decision, it would create a binding precedent for the entire state.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      2. A Local Challenge:<\/strong> A driver in Polk County would have to challenge a Lakeland ticket using the same constitutional arguments and win in a local court.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

        Until then, Lakeland\u2019s cameras remain fully operational and citations are still being issued.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        While a Broward County judge recently ruled that red-light camera citations are unconstitutional, Lakeland is not currently affected by this decision. Because the ruling came from a county-level court, it… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63926,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"12","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDNcL3JlZC1saWdodC1jYW1lcmEud2VicD9maXQ9MjI1JTJDMjI0JnNzbD0xIiwidHh0IjoiV2hpbGUgYSBCcm93YXJkIENvdW50eSBqdWRnZSByZWNlbnRseSBydWxlZCB0aGF0IHJlZC1saWdodCBjYW1lcmEgY2l0YXRpb25zIGFyZSB1bmNvbnN0aXR1dGlvbmFsLCBMYWtlbGFuZCBpcyBub3QgY3VycmVudGx5IGFmZmVjdGVkIGJ5IHRoaXMgZGVjaXNpb24iLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImhpZ2h3YXkiLCJmb250IjoiIiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTYzMDQwNjYxfQ.gNYqCyOU1coVQ74f_ZjD21X2KkGPPKFgJ43BaBr7DCAMQ"},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[14125,14124],"class_list":["post-63925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-news","tag-lakeland-is-not-currently-affected-by-this-decision","tag-while-a-broward-county-judge-recently-ruled-that-red-light-camera-citations-are-unconstitutional"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63925"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63925\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63927,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63925\/revisions\/63927"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}