City: Red-light camera data shows accidents down citywide

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City: Red-light camera data shows accidents down citywide

Studies look at adding more cameras

By Dee Riggs
World staff writer

Friday, January 18, 2013

WENATCHEE — Vehicle collisions at three red-light camera intersections are down 37 percent since cameras were installed in 2010.

The number of collisions for all intersections in the city was down by 15 percent since 2010, from 1,627 to 1,391.

City officials think this is because motorists are aware of red-light cameras but may not know where they are.

“The program is working and it’s saving lives and injuries,” said Capt. Doug Jones with the Wenatchee Police Department.

Jones and Police Chief Tom Robbins reported on the accident numbers at a City Council retreat on Thursday.

Jones and Robbins reported that there has been a reduction in red-light violations since the cameras were installed. Citations for 2010 were 4,072, for 2011 were 5,633 and for 2012, were 4,436. The spike in 2011 was expected, as motorists got used to the cameras, officials say.

Ticket revenue from the red light cameras — minus service and management fees — was $207,370 in 2010; $393,958 in 2011; and $281,731 through mid-December of 2012.

Currently, cameras are located at Fifth Street and Chelan Avenue, Orondo and Chelan avenues, and Mission and Kittitas Street.

In December, Robbins said he wanted the council to consider adding two more cameras: at Miller Street and North Wenatchee Avenue, and at Maiden Lane and North Wenatchee Avenue.

“I get a lot of complains from citizens about those two intersections,” the police chief said in December.

Also, if school officials are interested, Robbins would like the council to consider installing cameras to ticket speeders at some local school crossing zones. The number of schools would be determined by feasibility studies and school officials.

On Thursday, Robbins and Jones said they would like cameras considered for the following elementary schools: Newbery, Columbia, Lewis and Clark, Washington and Lincoln; and at Foothills and Pioneer middle schools.

Currently, studies are underway at the two proposed intersections and the seven schools, Jones said.

The City Council did not vote on the proposals Thursday but will wait until data is collected from those studies, Jones said. The council must approve any new camera locations.

Dee Riggs: 664-7147

deeriggs@wenatcheeworld.com

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Peggy 4 months ago

The WPD is using some interesting new math. They claim red light violations are down ye the number of violations in 2010 was 4072 and in 2012 the number was 4436. Now I attended elementary school well over 50 years ago but when I look at those two numbers it is quite clear that the number of drivers cited in 2012 was MUCH higher than in 2010. What I see here is that this whole thing appears to be revenue driven.

WenatcheeParent 4 months ago

An early Wenatchee World article stated that the cameras were installed in 2010 and were only in for part of that year. It would appear that the average per month for 2010 is less than the average per month for 2012 based upon the information provided in the previous Wenatchee World article.

Quincyfan 4 months ago

Of course it's revenue driven. They want money. If they really cared about Safety they would put in roundabouts. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, roundabouts have been shown to reduce fatal collisions by 90 percent, injury collisions by 80 percent and total collisions by almost 40 percent.

GarySchoessler 4 months ago

Nice observation Peggy. I know in the school zones at another town they really helped with the speed. The cameras on the trouble spots have now turned into a race off the line in 5 o'clock traffic due to the fact if your in the intersection when it goes yellow your getting mail. The cameras have been installed for about 5 years. After people know where they are the revenue drops due to people getting in the habit of the "hot spots". Now they about break even just to maintain them. I could care less if they were on every intersection as I try to be mindful of the lights but I'm sure others disagree.

Dudleydoright 4 months ago

The intersection at Orondo was upgraded with a right turn lane so you can throw out the statistics for that one. If it was only about safety they would lengthen the yellow another second and lengthen the red to green another second and what few accidents you have would nearly disappear with the exception of drunks and idiots texting.

HenryWA 4 months ago

Someone should do a survey measuring the correlation between people who think that red light cameras promote safety and people who believe that those pills they advertise on late night TV will miraculously make you smaller… or bigger. I bet it would be close to 100%. I'm in California and it makes me laugh/cry to watch folks in other states make the same mistake we made ten or twelve years ago - putting in red light cameras. You should know better. The videos the Industry puts on TV show that all of the crashes occur after the signal has been red for 5 or more seconds. It's obvious that that real late running occurs because the motorist (a visitor or distracted/impaired local) completely misses seeing the signal, because it isn't prominent enough. A camera won't make a signal more prominent. But here's how to do it, cheaply and quickly, without cameras.

A. Paint "signal ahead" on the pavement. A study sponsored by the Florida DOT found that doing so could cut running by up to 74%. B. Make the signal lights bigger in diameter or, add another signal head. A study by the Texas Transp. Institute (TTI) found that doing either one could cut crashes by 47%. C. Add backboards to the signal heads. The TTI study found that doing so could cut crashes by 32%. D. Install brighter bulbs in the street lights above the dangerous intersections and put up lighted name signs for the cross street there.

These things should be tried at a city's worst intersections, before putting in red light cameras.