The Houston Police Department says the city’s red light cameras have been effective. Since they went up in 2006, the city says red light running and traffic fatalities have gone down. Plus they’ve generated 18 million dollars in revenue for HPD’s traffic division and per state law, another 15 million dollars for Texas trauma centers.

“That money is now gone,” says Vicki King, HPD’s asst. chief. “Taxpayers are going to have to pick up the short fall. Instead of holding people accountable for dangerous driving behaviors and assessing fines for putting others at risk, now every tax payer is going to assume that risk and liability.”

In November, 53% of Houston voters said they wanted the cameras to come down. The referendum was put on the ballot after Houston attorney Paul Kubosh collected thousands of signatures.

“We saw it as nothing more than a tax hidden behind the disguise of safety,” said Kubosh. “We saw it as a scam and to be honest with you, we got upset, we got angry.”

After the election, American Traffic Solutions, the company that owns and maintains the cameras, sued the city in federal court. ATS has a contractual agreement with the city through 2014.

Until the judge rules on this case, the cameras will stay up— but no pictures will be taken and no citations will be issued. The Houston Police Department reports since the cameras went off line, red light running at its 70 monitored intersections is up by 30 percent.