Lynnwood Mayor Nicola Smith wants her city to have a conversation about its traffic cameras as it works to map out its plans and budget goals.
The traffic camera discussion is driven both by the final months of a contract with the city’s camera vendor, American Traffic Solutions, but also by the city’s budget, for which the cameras have provided significant revenue since they were installed nine years ago.
Currently, there are 12 red-light cameras at eight intersections and three cameras at school zones. Tickets start at $124 for running a red light but can increase to $250 for speeding 35 mph over the limit in a school zone.
Since the cameras started flashing in Lynnwood in 2007, the city has taken in about $19.2 million in fines, less the $5.8 million paid to its vendor, as Herald Writer Rikki King reported Sunday. For 2015, $2.75 million in camera-generated fines were paid, the highest figure since 2010 when the cameras brought in nearly $4.1 million. The city still gets the largest share of its annual revenue, about $52 million, from sales tax and property tax, but city officials have previously admitted to Herald reporters they had come to rely on the traffic camera revenue.
A problem arises for cities when the cameras become more about adding to the city’s bottom line than traffic safety, which is how they’re usually justified when first proposed.
Chicago, one of the largest of about 500 U.S. cities and jurisdictions using traffic cameras, and its mayor, Rahm Emanuel, admitted to the Chicago Tribune in 2014 that it had goosed its red-light revenue by cutting the duration of its yellow lights to just under three seconds, catching more drivers trying to beat the red light. The Federal Highway Administration guidelines require a minimum of three seconds. Shortening the yellow allowed the city to ticket 77,000 more drivers and add $7.7 million to its budget. Under pressure, the city reset the timing of its yellow lights.
Although there are a range of results, numerous studies have shown that the cameras can reduce the number of right-angle, or “T-bone” accidents. A 2005 study by the Federal Highway Administration examined accident reports from seven unnamed cities and found a significant reduction in right-angle crashes where cameras were in use. But at the same time, there was also a marked increase in rear-end accidents as drivers stopped quickly and were hit by vehicles following too closely. But even accounting for the increase in rear-end wrecks, the statistics showed an overall decrease in injuries and in property losses.
A 2011 analysis of red-light camera studies at policechief magazine.org by Richard Ashton, a retired police chief from Frederick, Maryland, found that fatal accidents declined in cities with red-light cameras but noted that too many cities had installed the cameras at intersections where the interest was more about generating traffic fines than preventing accidents. The cameras are most effective when placed at intersections with a history of serious T-bone wrecks.
Ashton also notes that cameras aren’t as effective where the problems are caused by poor intersection design or bad visibility of traffic signals. Options cities should consider to reduce accidents along with the cameras, he writes, are better signage to alert drivers and longer duration of yellow lights.
Tampa, Florida, which also uses red-light cameras, lengthened its yellow-light duration by nearly a second to 4.8 seconds. The result was fewer accidents because of the cameras and a 79 percent drop in citations in the first month after the light change was made, a Tampa TV station reported in 2014.
Lynnwood should have a discussion about its traffic cameras and their proper location. But between now and November, when Lynnwood must decide whether to renew its contract with American Traffic Solutions, it first needs to gather some data and observations about their effectiveness that can help inform those discussions.
Ashton, the retired chief, recommends that cities periodically reevaluate their camera programs to determine if the goals of public safety are being met, if accidents rates are decreasing or increasing. As well, police officials should be reviewing photos of apparent violations to ensure fines are being collected for legitimate infractions.
Success can’t be judged solely on the amount of revenue the cameras bring in.
At the intersections and school zones where the cameras have resulted in fewer serious accidents, the city can make the best case to its residents and visitors that the cameras do what they were intended to do.
Where they are just a cash cow, offering no benefit to public safety, the cameras should come down.
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