Police began citing drivers caught on camera running red lights at Pacific Avenue and Sleater-Kinney Road on June 1, 2008. Lacey is the first city in Thurston County to use the cameras, although Olympia is considering a similar program.
The number of collisions reported at the busy intersection has dropped since monitoring began, city data show. City Council members said reducing collisions was the primary reason they approved the program.
“I think that’s a hopeful sign,” Mayor Graeme Sackrison said. “We’ll know better at the end of 2009 what it looks like for an annual rate. If the numbers continue and look the way they’re looking preliminarily, I think that’s successful.”
The cameras monitor drivers headed east and west on Pacific Avenue through the intersection.
Through April, there had been one noninjury collision reported at the intersection, city data show. In 2006, there were 16 collisions; in 2007, 21 collisions, including two that caused injuries; and in 2008, 18 collisions, including seven that caused injuries. It’s unknown how many, if any, of those collisions were the result of a driver running a red light.
Martin Hoppe, city transportation manager, said ongoing construction at the intersection as part of a road project to improve Sleater-Kinney Road needs to be taken into consideration when looking at last year’s numbers.
He said more information needs to be collected before traffic engineers can draw firm conclusions.
“The trend is looking really good for the cameras; that’s what it comes down to,” Hoppe said. “It’s too soon to tell, but it looks good.”
In the final seven months of 2008, the cameras recorded 7,815 possible infractions. Police officers approved the issuance of 4,067 tickets, said Lacey police Lt. Chris Ward, the official in charge of managing the program. Ward accessed the statistics from a Web site maintained by the vendor, American Traffic Solutions. The fine is $124.
Police officers must review each event to determine whether it merits a citation. Of the 3,748 possible infractions that didn’t result in a citation, the reviewing police officer rejected nearly half, mostly because they were “slow roll” right turns or the driver was on or past the stop line when the picture was snapped, Ward said.
“We always give the people the benefit of the doubt,” he said.
The other possible infractions were tossed because of issues with the operation of the camera, Ward said. It occasionally went off at the wrong time, he said.
In the first four months of this year, the cameras recorded 2,434 possible infractions, and reviewing officers issued 1,558 citations.
Ward said the average number of monthly citations has dropped to 311 this year compared with 581 in the seven months of operation last year.
“We’re writing less tickets. We’re having less collisions. What it shows is that the actual dangerous behavior of running lights is being curbed. People are starting to get it, and we’re very happy,” he said.
The city collected a total of $287,000 in fines since the program began, Ward said. American Traffic Solutions collected $98,000. The city also must pay for officers to review the possible infractions (Ward estimated it takes one officer 90 minutes to two hours a day) and a prosecutor to represent the city in appeals to Thurston County District Court.
ATS is charging the city $9,200 a month for both cameras. The city needs to collect fines from 75 violations each month to pay costs. Last month, 317 citations were sent out. The remaining money goes into a special fund to pay for transportation safety projects.
The City Council or one of its committees is expected to be briefed on the program soon.
Christian Hill: 360-754-5427
chill@theolympian.com
