KCBD, NewsChannel 11 Lubbock |The Red Light Camera Challenge: NewsChannel 11 Investigates

The Red Light Camera Challenge: NewsChannel 11 Investigates

Michael Kubosh, a former Democratic Texas Senate candidate, deliberately ran a red light at a intersection in Houston.  He got a $75 ticket in the mail and nearly six months later, he has filed a lawsuit against the city of Houston.

"I've been telling the mayor that if they put these cameras up in Houston, I'm going to take them out of Houston.  Then I am going to Dallas, I'm going to Garland and San Antonio.  If you put them up in Lubbock, I am coming there," said Kubosh.

But before his red light camera tour of Texas, he is focusing on a legal battle that could land him in a Texas Supreme Court.  

"No one in Texas, that I know of, has raised any issue like I'm raising here in Texas. There have been other challenges in the country. Some have been in federal court and they filed because they took on federal privacy acts and things," said Kubosh.

He says he has two major beefs with red light cameras.  First, the inability to face your accuser in court and your right to due process. 

"I don't like people who run right lights, don't get me wrong.  I think anyone who runs a red light intentionally should get a ticket by a police officer.  They should be identified by a police officer.  An officer should ask them why they ran the red light," said Kubosh. 

This Houston man is backing State Representative Carl Isett's House Bill would ban red light cameras in Texas.  Isett also believes red lights cameras take away a person's constitutional rights.  He says if it were really about safety, Texans should take that serious. 

"If we're really serious about red light runners, then let's have serious penalties for them where they can actually face jail time," said Isett.

Two other bills working their way through Austin would take away the revenues from the cities and give it to the state for a trauma and emergency fund if it became law.

We asked Mayor David Miller if the city has a "plan B" for revenue source if red light cameras were banned or funds were diverted.  He declined an interview but told NewsChannel 11 he hasn't considered it and does not want to speculate on what may or may not come out of Austin.  The legislative regular session is over May 28th.