Red Light Camera News Red light cam gets a red light from city
http://www.kval.com/news/local/130630993.html
Red light cam gets a red light from city
By Dan Bain KPIC News Published: Sep 27, 2011 at 7:35 AM PDT Last Updated: Sep 27, 2011 at 8:10 AM PDT
ROSEBURG, Ore. -- The Roseburg City Council has decided against a red light enforcement camera.
The council voted 3-2 Monday night, to not go forward with a red light camera at the intersection of Pine and Oak Streets in downtown Roseburg.
The council approved a motion three years ago to move ahead with the cameras, but still hadn't gotten the final permit from O.D.O.T. for that intersection.
This time, some councilors had doubts about whether the cameras would improve safety.
It would improve revenue for the city and for the company that was selling the system. Councilor Tom Ryan said that shouldn't go hand in hand. "Public safety and revenue generation should not be lumped together. So, like I say, I'm adamantly opposed to it and the preponderance of the evidence out there is that it's not a good deal," he said.
City Manager Eric Swanson told the council that revenue from the citations was not the reason for the cameras. "What we've tried to do is bring awareness and a potential solution," said Swanson. "It's not tied to revenue."
In the end, the majority of the councilors were not convinced the cameras were a good thing. Ken Averett brought up his own solution for the intersection, which included more on-site enforcement. "We want to change behavior, I say we set Childers there for three hours a day at that intersection and take care of it," he said. "I think that would make more of an impact than having the cameras there."
The Oak and Pine intersection has seen some bad accidents, but some councilors were not convinced the cameras would lower the accident rate.
Police Chief Jim Burge said if the camera was approved he would have an officer look at the pictures for about three hours a week to see if there were violators.
Some members of the audience said they would rather have an officer making a judgment call rather than the camera.
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