http://www.peoriatimes.com/news/article_96973fb4-e9f8-11e0-a12b-001cc4c002e0.html

Red light not so special

Red light
City council decided to let a contract with Redflex Traffic Systems expire. The company provided red light cameras at intersections around the city. Designed to subdue red-light runners and traffic collisions, studies did not show a significant improvement worth renewing the contract.

Kathryn Stafford

Staff Writer

(Poll on Site as of last night)
.Are red light cameras worth the money?
     
 Yes 6 32%  No 13 68%  
 

 Posted: Thursday, September 29, 2011 11:00 pm | Updated: 1:20 pm, Wed Sep 28, 2011.

Red light not so special By KATHRYN STAFFORD, Staff Writer The Peoria Times | 1 comment

We've all been there. You're cruising along down the street, perhaps not paying as much attention as you should, when all of a sudden you look up to see a blazing amber light at the intersection and all you can do is slam your foot on the brake before that tiny little camera snaps a shot of you and you receive a nice little present in the mail from the city a couple weeks later.

As many ideas do, it probably started with the best intentions. But could it be that cameras installed to decrease accidents and red-light runners are actually doing the exact opposite? According to statistics from the police department, since 2007 accidents had increased by 29 percent.

A request was made to city council to not renew its contract with Redflex Traffic Systems during a study session Sept. 13.

Residents and citizens have long been in opposition to the red light cameras, used to snap motorists' pictures when they run through an intersection with a red light.

The program was first implemented in January 2008, when the police department began a red light photo enforcement traffic safety pilot program. The goal was to reduce collisions and the frequency of red light violations. The police department identified four intersections in conjunction with traffic engineering and the vendor, Redflex Traffic Systems. Based upon collisions and a high frequency of red-light violations, four intersections were identified for installation of photo-enforcement equipment. The four identified intersections and traffic flow directions are:

· 83rd Avenue and Union Hills, southbound traffic

· 91st Avenue and Bell Road, eastbound and westbound traffic

· 75th Avenue and Thunderbird Road, eastbound on northbound traffic

· 83rd Avenue and Thunderbird Road, northbound and westbound traffic.

The program implementing the red light cameras has been in full operation at all four intersections for three years.

The three options staff presented to city council were:

· Continue the program and renew the contract with Redflex Traffic Systems.

· Terminate the program with Redflex Traffic Systems upon its Oct. 2 expiration.

· Temporarily suspend the program and no longer issue citations as a result of red-light violations based upon photo enforcement technology. During the suspension of the program, keep the red light infrastructure technology in place without the use of strobe light camera flash to collect post program data on all red light violations. This data could be used in the future to analyze post program traffic violations for the purpose of assessing the impact suspending the program has on violations and collisions.

Staff said the red light camera photo enforcement had not met the goal of reducing collisions at the monitored intersections, however, the goal of reducing the frequency of red light violations has been met. The police department is recommending that the contract with Redflex Traffic Systems not be renewed.  (Ban the Cams note:  no mention of what "kind" of violations, right turns for instance).

Peoria Police Chief Roy Minter also made a presentation before council regarding the Redflex contract agreement.

Following Minter's presentation, council agreed to follow the second option suggested. They decided to let the contract expire and take no action to renew the contract at that time.

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