ORLANDO, Fla. -- Members of the Orlando City Council showed support for a plan to use red-light cameras at city intersections that would photograph and ticket drivers who ignore red lights.

Orlando police do not yet have the legal authority to write tickets based on red-light cameras, but they have been experimenting with a camera at the intersection of Hiawassee Road and Raleigh Street.

Instead of tickets on Hiawassee, police have been sending warning letters to red light runners.

At the intersection where the camera is located, violations have decreased by more than 40 percent and crashes decreased by more than 50 percent in nine months, Local 6's Mike DeForest reported.

"Of course, a camera is a lot cheaper to operate than assigning officers to enforce that intersection," DeForest said.

If the Orlando City Commission decides to create an ordinance allowing red light cameras, violators would receive a photo of their violation and they could be forced to pay a fine.

The citation could then be appealed to a code enforcement hearing officer and then if desired, appealed to a civil court judge.

Since state lawmakers have not formally legalized red light cameras yet, and there are still a lot of questions about those cameras' legality, Orlando city leaders want to take the direction of code enforcement fines, Local 6 reported.

"If you received a red light ticket, you would not receive any points on your driver's license, you would just have to pay the fine," DeForest said.

DeForest said City Council members gave the city attorney the OK to draft a resolutions that they can revisit in a few months.

Critics of the cameras have cited privacy issues.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.