A judge has stayed hundreds of thousands of pending red light camera tickets issued in Miami-Dade County pending a possible appeal.

County Court Judge Steve Leifman issued the stay Oct. 16 after sending one case to the Third District Court of Appeal for a ruling that could affect the entire red light camera program.

“Countywide, there are currently hundreds of thousands of red light camera citations backlogged due to a stay requested by defense counsel,” Leifman said in his order. “In fairness to all other municipalities with red light camera programs, this court finds no reason why the stay now granted in this case should not be consistently applied.”