Judge rules against traffic cameras, Youngstown - 21 News Now, More Local News for Youngstown, Ohio -

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - A judge's ruling near Cincinnati is raising the question over whether traffic cameras are legal.

However, the City of Youngstown is moving forward with it's plan to install the cameras until state law says otherwise.

On Thursday, a Hamilton County judge had cameras in Elmwood Place, Ohio turned off, calling them "invalid" and "unenforceable."

He also said it's a scam that drivers can't win.

Thousands of motorists have gotten tickets since the cameras went up last September.

The City of Youngstown plans to use a different traffic camera company than the one used by that village near Cincinnati. Elmwood Place has been using Optotraffic and according to its website, it processes citations in house. The City of Youngstown wants to work with Redflex and plans to have more local control over the citation and appeals process.

"There'll be an officer in Youngstown assigned to review each one of the citations to make sure it's a valid citation.. to ensure fairness and once a motorist receives a citation, there's going to be a number on that citation. They can go to the Redflex website and actually see that violation in progress."

Youngstown Deputy Law Director, Anthony Donofrio says there will also be a hearing officer, who will consider challenges to citations in-person.

Donofrio expects the city's Board of Control to sign its contract with Redflex within the next two weeks and then the company will do a study on which school zones in Youngstown need the cameras the most.

"Redflex is going to send out engineering teams to analyze each location."

However, if the current case in Hamilton County leads to changes in state law, there is a provision built into Youngstown's agreement with Redflex, that will allow the city to terminate the contract.

For now, Youngstown is moving forward with it's plans for traffic cameras, which it hopes to have in place by summer.