Archives > Allen American > News
Print
E-mail
Comment
Rate
RSS
Share
Red-light cameras green lit
By Troy Brakefield, Staff Writer
Council members said the safety of city motorists is the main reason for Allen to join the growing trend of cities adding red light cameras at intersections.
Allen Police Department Lt. Johnny Thomason spoke to the council about the proposed monitoring systems and how they would help change drivers’ behaviors.
“We want to encourage voluntary compliance,” he said.
“Obviously, you see the importance,” Thomason said.
The Police Department has been working with Redflex Traffic Solutions Inc. for the past few months to work out a contract for the monitoring devices, according to Capt. Robert Flores, commander of the Allen Police Department criminal investigation division.
Redflex, a local company that has similar contracts with about 20 other municipalities, including Plano, Richardson and Dallas, will install, operate and maintain the cameras at no cost to the city. The amount of revenue the city would receive will be based on a sliding scale, which would increase with the amount of violations. A civil penalty of $75 would be assessed for each notice of violation.
Thomason said each intersection equipped would have two digital cameras for still photos and a digital video camera. One of the still cameras would show the vehicle before it entered the intersection while the light was red; the other would show the vehicle in the intersection while the vehicle was running the red light.
The digital video would be reviewed by Allen police for approval before a notice of violation would be sent out by Redflex.
The notices mailed out would include pictures of the violation and have a Web site address to view the video footage, Thomason said. For late payments, Redflex would impose an additional fee of $25.
Thomason also noted those receiving a violation notice could request a hearing through the department and, if still unsatisfied, “could appeal though the municipal court.”
A specified number of intersections and details have not been set yet. A traffic study would first be conducted to determine areas of concern and the devices could be used for future traffic studies for the city’s engineering department, Thomason said.
Council member Jeff McGregor said he had initially opposed the city approving cameras because he wouldn’t want taken off the street to run camera operations.
After seeing the system was designed with safety in mind and there would be no financial risk to the city, he said he favored the red light cameras.
“The one thing I would like engineering to work on is standardizing the times of the yellow lights,” McGregor said. He also asked for a policy concerning city vehicles shown running lights to be looked into.
To comment on this story, visit www.scntx.com. Contact Troy Brakefield at tbrakefield@acnpaper.com
The following are comments from the readers.
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
Larry Henkle wrote on Aug 30, 2007 5:50 AM:
" It's all about revenue.......NOT ABOUT SAFETY!! It has already been proven that while these devices decrease front end collisions they INCREASE rear end collisions. It has been a proven "revenue goldmine" for all of the surrounding cities who have been using them. "
Fair's Fair wrote on Aug 30, 2007 5:59 PM:
" Any employees of the City of Allen, especially Police Officers, should be fired if they are caught running red lights. In addition, they should pay double the fine. What's good for the citizens should be good for the city. "
Whatever wrote on Sep 1, 2007 8:38 AM:
" I am hoping that you are talking about Police Officers running them when they are NOT in their police car or going to a call. I would hate for you to be dying on the side of the road.....but only if those police officers could have turned on their lights and went through the light then maybe.........JUST MAYBE you would have lived. "
Safety Conscience wrote on Sep 2, 2007 1:29 PM:
" It is not all about revenue. The cities do not keep all the revenue. The state takes a large amount of the revenue. If people would not be in such a hurry to get somewhere then the roads would be a lot safer. As for "Fair's Fair" comment just keep in mind when he or she is complaining about the response time of police. Police are simply trying to get to the call location to solve the problem as soon as possible. The number 1 solution to the problem "Stop Running Red Lights!" "
MW wrote on Sep 9, 2007 7:53 AM:
" There is no reason for this. Just because other towns are using redlight cameras does not mean Allen has to follow. I own three cars with a family of four drivers. Who are they going to send the civil citation to? I assume it will be the titled owner of the vehicle even though that may not be the person who was driving. "
Bob Chalfant wrote on Oct 4, 2007 3:17 PM:
" Every day I read about red light cameras being installed all over the United States (Yahoo! Alerts sends me the news articles). In NOT ONE SINGLE ARTICLE I’ve read has anyone from any government entity has ever stood up and quantified the level of increased safety achieved by these cameras. I’d love to see the City’s traffic engineer have the stats to say that “these traffic cameras have saved ‘n’ lives and/or prevented ‘x’ number of accidents”. Or even “As a result of this reduced accident rate in Cleveland, the residents of our city of have saved ‘y’ dollars on car insurance premiums.”
No one wants to measure safety as a function of camera installations, but they sure do love to measure the amount of money being generated.
If anyone on the City Council or in the Executive Office tells us citizens that the cameras are installed and maintained for “safety reasons” then I can reasonably say that there is a credibility gap between what is said and what is actually being accomplished.
No, I have not received a camera-generated ticket, so I don’t have an axe to grind.
On the other hand, I’m an ethical human being and don’t deserve to be monitored by machines like a felon in prison or a junkie with an ankle bracelet.
"
FridayBob wrote on Oct 5, 2007 3:25 PM:
" It seems inconcievable to me that a city of 73,000 people who have an average income of $82,000 has such an unmanageable traffic problem that the city needs traffic cameras to maintain safety. The entire city must be made up of scofflaws!
I simply don't believe Jeff McGregor, Johnny Thomason nor Captain Robert Flores. Where are the stats that say we NEED these cameras for safety? Is there no other way? "
You must register with a valid email to post comments.
Only your Member ID will be posted with the comments.
Only your Member ID will be posted with the comments.
Registered users sign in here:
Become a Registered User
- Return to: News «
- Home «
- Top of Page ^
