The Kissimmee Commission Tuesday approved instructing city staff to start seeking vendors for the installation of red light running cameras in the city.

We believe it's long overdue.

The city, for years, had put implementing a red light running traffic system on its legislative lobbying list only to watch it continually killed. But in May, Gov. Charlie Crist signed a bill permitting statewide use of cameras as traffic enforcement devices.

Now, city staff will develop a request for qualifications to identify potential vendors and then return to the commission with a recommendation. However, while there are a variety of vendors nationally who may be able to provide planning and installation services, the process could take several months to complete, city officials said.

The city has waited this long, so if city officials need several months to get the best bang for its buck, so be it. We think it’s a fine strategy.

There are those who are going to oppose the system for certain reasons, whether they think it's too Big Brother-like or that it's just a simple government money-maker. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, cameras are set so that only those vehicles that enter an intersection after the light has turned red are photographed.

And independent audits of red light camera enforcement have found that these programs generally do not generate excess revenue, institute studies showed. For example, the California state auditor reported in 2002, that red light cameras were not generating large amounts of revenue. The financial status of only two of the state's seven camera programs was break-even or better.

The fact is that the Kissimmee Police Department does not have the resources to place a traffic officer at every intersection where red light running is a problem. So until that day comes, we believe cameras are the way to go. Cameras have been shown to substantially reduce red light violations, according to institute studies in Fairfax, Va., and Oxnard, Calif. Camera enforcement reduced red light running violations by about 40 percent, institute studies showed.

We believe commissioners are just trying to protect law-abiding drivers from the red-light running menace. That's not too much government. That's just right.