Ore. city decides against red light cameras

Published 2:01 pm Friday, September 30, 2011

ROSEBURG, Ore. — A Southern Oregon town decided at the 11th hour to reject red light cameras over fears that the cameras cause rear-end crashes and serve only as moneymakers for the city.

The Roseburg City Council voted 4-2 against installing the cameras at a busy intersection, The Roseburg

News-Review reported. The city signed a contract with a red light camera manufacturer in 2008, and the cameras were set to be installed in late October.

The city would have started distributing tickets in January, with a maximum fine of $260.

City Councilor Tom Ryan, who voted against installing the cameras, said the devices unfairly link public safety with revenue generation for the city.

“I was against it in 2008, and I’m against it now. I’d rather be pulled over by an officer,” Ryan said. “I don’t think it justifies anyone getting rear-ended.”

A 2005 study by the Federal Highway Safety Administration found that after installation of red light cameras, right-angle or T-bone crashes dropped 28 percent, while rear-end crashes climbed 8 percent.

The city estimated the $200,000 camera system could have generated about $125,000 a year if 100 tickets were paid each month.

The camera companies argue the cameras save lives and ultimately cut costs. They estimate the cameras save billions annually nationwide, largely by reducing emergency room trips, lowering insurance rates and cutting medical bills.

City Manager Eric Swanson said the cameras would not be a way for the city to make money.

“We’re looking primarily at an opportunity to make (the intersection) safer,” he said. “If anything, we’ve brought attention to the fact that it is a dangerous intersection.”

Councilor Rick Coen and new Councilor Melissa Smith said they were in favor of the cameras because the devices would cut down on dangerous accidents caused by drivers running the red light at Oak and Pine.

“That intersection frightens me because I’ve seen so many people run red lights,” Smith said.

Since a split City Council voted to use the cameras in August 2008, there have been 17 accidents at that intersection, two of which resulted in injuries, Roseburg Police Chief Jim Burge told the council.

Councilor Bob Cotterell, a retired police officer, said the cameras shouldn’t be installed because they serve only part of the purpose of law enforcement — they punish drivers, but don’t do enough to change driving behavior.

“I believe that personal contact causes more behavior modification than the citation,” Cotterell said, “and that’s what we want, is behavior modification.”