MOUNTLAKE TERRACE
A lack of red-light runners means this city won’t be using the high-tech approach to catch the few it does have.
Last fall, the City Council agreed to have Arizona-based Redflex Traffic Systems, Inc. investigate whether it would be worth installing photo enforcement technology, commonly referred to as red light cameras, at five intersections.
But months of data collection by the company showed there weren’t enough drivers running red lights to justify installing the special cameras, which photograph vehicle license plates and drivers who drive through red lights.
“The numbers just didn’t justify a public safety need, at all,” said assistant chief Pete Caw. “In fact a couple of them weren’t even close.”
The proposed intersections included 220th Street Southwest at 66th Avenue West; 212th Street Southwest at 52nd Avenue West; 212th Street Southwest at 44th Avenue West; 56th Avenue West at 236th Street Southwest and 228th Street Southwest at Cedar Way.
The system is set up to electronically detect potential red light runners, then snap a photo when they enter the intersection after the light turns red. Underground sensors trigger cameras when approaching vehicles are detected to be traveling too fast to stop in time, said Redflex spokeswoman Shoba Vaitheeswaran.
Under terms of the contract, Redflex would have installed the system at no cost to the city and would have received a portion of receipts from violators’ fees.
Caw said he was a bit surprised by the results of the analysis.
“I guess I expected because of the amount of traffic we have (at) 220th and 66th, there’d be a correspondingly high number of infractions, but we just didn’t see it,” he said.
Mayor Jerry Smith said he also was surprised by the findings.
“I thought we’d have enough just off the intersections we picked,” he said. “Apparently, that’s not the case.”
Cities throughout the Puget Sound area have installed red light cameras as a public safety measure. Redflex has accounts with nine Puget Sound-area cities and in 19 other states, Vaitheeswaran said.
“We feel the city is really fortunate to be free of this concern,” she said. At the same time, she added, “it’s pretty rare that this happens, in our experience.”
Though the cameras have caught on in some cities, they haven’t been installed in others. The city of Mill Creek last month decided not to have American Traffic Solutions install red light photo cameras after a study showed violations were too infrequent to cover the costs involved.
That company has operated red light cameras at Lynnwood intersections for a year and now has eight intersections equipped with the cameras. Lynnwood last year designated revenues from the program to fund police and firefighter positions.
Caw said the red light camera program was never intended to serve as a revenue source for Mountlake Terrace.
“The whole idea of this is to prevent right-angle collisions,” he said. “That’s a major cause of injuries at intersections.”
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