Red Light Cameras and Emergency Vehicle Responses

First some boring background. I have been a Vol. F/F for 17 years, 16 of which I have been a driver. In the past few years, we have opted to go from our local government's self insurance program to paying for our own insurance. In the past few years, I have been in a position where I had to ensure that the insurance bills, as well as everything else, have been paid. This in and of itself has changed my driving habits tremendously. Not that they were bad to begin with (or so I would like to think), but when you are provided with the case laws and precedents that have been set with regard to liability and the emergency responder, it has a dramatic eye opening effect.
ANYWAY, one of the duties that has come along with my job that pays the bills, is issuing Red Light Camera Citations. These are automatically generated citations for "running" red lights. You have to be going at least 16 MPH for a citation to "technically" be valid.
Herein finally lies my question/request, We are seeing an increasing number of these citations generated by emergency vehicles, be it Police, Fire, EMS or whatever. Note that the speed is recorded on these citations. The ones at 16-20 MPH are not so bad, but the ones at anywhere from 35 to 76 MPH, YES 76 is the current record, are enough to make me want to pull off the road when a piece of apparatus comes anywhere near me. I am at a slight advantage because I know our General Orders state that vehicles must come to a stop before entering a controlled intersection when you have a red light. Aside from the GROSS negligence and extreme liability involved with running a red light at 76 MPH, does anyone else have or know of regulations put in place for these infractions that are caught on these cameras. My agency is currently working with several other agencies to come up with solutions for this and any feedback or comments will be greatly appreciated.
*****BY THE WAY***** take note that strobe lights, to date, have NOT SHOWN on a single citation. We sent one of our unmarked cruisers through with 12 strobes in the rear, and NOT ONE was seen in the photo.

[This message has been edited by EStoner28 (edited 03-05-2001).]

You didn't state if there were penalties for violations of your General Orders. Sounds like there needs to be. As safety officer here, one of my dorky safety quotes is to be careful going through the red lights but be really careful going through the green ones! Maybe you could get copies of the photos and embarass some folks at the next meeting. Of course, the oldtimers are going to say that nothing has happened YET! Just tell them that there may be sometime that the unit is going to wreck at an intersection so that means that another alarm is going to save their backside as well as sending someone else to save the folks you were origianlly dispatched to save on the first alarm. Some departments have a hard enough time finding enough folks to go to one alarm. Play the courtroom lawyer....."EX-ff Doe, would you explain to the court and the orphans what you were doing when your 50,000#+ rig drove through the passenger compartment of the parents vehicle??????"

If these people are running red lights in violation of your general orders, what are your options for discipline? I would think an infraction of this magnitude (76 MPH?!?!) would cause at least a written warning if not suspension of driving privledges. What are your state laws regarding going through red lights? In PA, EVO's must operate with due regard to their surroundings. If a driver rolls through at 10 mph after gaining right of way, I would call that due regard. Blowing them at 76 even I would find your driver and department at fault. What about having the driver responsible pay the ticket? It would slow me down.