Red-light cameras may be in Edmonds’ future

  • By Chris Fyall Enterprise editor
  • Wednesday, November 12, 2008 2:26pm

Red-light cameras in Edmonds could soon be cleared for take-off.

After drivers zoomed through too many red lights in mid-October, and voters rejected Tim Eyman’s Initiative 985 last week — an initiative that officials said would block the installation of cameras in the city — the only barrier to cameras is city approval.

The cameras could come to two intersections in south Edmonds by early next year, officials said.

The intersections are Highway 99 and 220th Street Southwest, near Mountlake Terrace, and 100th Place West and Edmonds Way, in the Westgate area.

Westbound approaches on both streets could use red-light cameras, said assistant police chief Gerry Gannon.

Police and city officials will decide in the coming weeks if they want to pursue the red-light cameras, he said.

The city has been studying the cameras since early 2008.

If the city ultimately installs cameras, red-light violators would be subject to $124 fines. The tickets are considered non-moving violations.

If the City Council approves cameras, they could be installed in early 2009, Gannon said.

The city tested three intersections during its trial period, Oct. 13-17.

The tested intersections included all four directions of Highway 99 at 220th Street Southwest; north- and southbound Highway 99 at 238th Street Southwest; and east- and westbound on Edmonds Way at 100th Avenue West.

Only the two intersections hosted enough violations to justify camera installations, Gannon said.

The company that installs the cameras charges over $4,000 a camera per month, but it takes that money from collected violations, and promises the city will never have to pay out of pocket, said Bill Kroske, the company’s vice president of business development.

In Edmonds, the majority of red-light runners at both of the intersections were making right turns, Gannon said.

Right turn violations create safety hazards for drivers, but are less dangerous than drivers who run straight through intersections, or try and turn left after the red light, he said.

City officials have insisted that the only reason Edmonds would install cameras would be to increase safety.

“If you have a crash in the middle of an intersection, it is usually because somebody was not paying attention to the traffic signal,” Edmonds police chief Al Compaan said in September. “I don’t think there’s any question that at those intersections where cameras are installed, people are better at taking the traffic signals seriously.”

City officials are still writing a red-light camera ordinance.

The cameras will likely come before the council’s public safety committee before the full council deliberates, officials said.

Reporter Chris Fyall: 425-673-6525 or cfyall@heraldnet.com

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