By Kelline Linton, Chief Copy Editor
Students may think twice before running their next red light as the Abilene City Council considers a plan to install red light cameras in the future.
City staff is examining ways to reduce red light violations around town. Drivers cause more than 500 accidents by running red lights in Abilene each year, according to police statistics.
Lenka Wright, the communications and media relations manager for the city of Abilene; said, ongoing efforts to reduce this type of traffic violation include public education, traffic engineering, police enforcement and, possibly, the installation of red light cameras, Red light cameras automatically photograph vehicles that cross a stopline or designated stopping place after a traffic light shows red.
Any vehicle entering the intersection above a preset minimum speed after the signal has turned red triggers the camera; many red light camera programs provide motorists with grace periods up to half a second. Cameras record the date, time of day, time elapsed since the beginning of the red signal, vehicle speed and license plate. Tickets are usually mailed to the owners of the violating vehicles, based on review of photographic evidence.
The City Council started to place more emphasis on the deliberations for traffic cameras after Redflex Traffic Systems, Inc. conducted a traffic analysis study July 9 that looked at the frequency of red light running at nine different intersections around town.
Redflex placed cameras at 14 sites, each for eight hours. During that time, a total of 121 red light running violations were caught on tape, according to the Abilene Reporter-News. The intersection with the most violations on that particular day was Buffalo Gap Road and Danville Drive/Industrial with 38, Wright said.
Another traffic engineering study to focus on several signalized intersections will begin soon, and the results are expected in early 2009.
The City Council appointed individuals to serve on the Red Light Camera Citizens Advisory Committee on May 8. When the new traffic engineering study is complete, the seven-member committee will review the results and the effectiveness of current efforts to improve intersection safety. If red light cameras are recommended, the committee will advise the City Council on the installation and operation of the photographic traffic signal enforcement system.
“The study will evaluate several factors related to intersection safety, including signal visibility, pavement conditions, lane markings, crosswalk markings, signal timing, red light running violation rates and enforcement and operational issues,” Wright said in an e-mail.
The study will focus on four to six intersections that will be selected based on their accident history and frequency of red light violations. Possible intersections for the study include Buffalo Gap Road and Clack Street, Buffalo Gap Road and Danville Drive/Industrial Boulevard, South 1st Street and Sayles Boulevard, Grape and North 10th Streets, South 14th and Barrow Streets, Treadaway Boulevard and South 11th Street, Treadaway Boulevard and South 27th Street, South 14th and Clack Streets, and South 1st Street and Pioneer Drive.
Any intersection monitored by the cameras will have signs in place advising motorists of that fact, Wright said.
Even if the committee suggests the use of red light cameras, the City Council will ultimately decide whether or not the installation of cameras would be an appropriate measure to take in the effort to reduce the occurrence of red light running, Wright said.
“The aim is to improve safety on our roadways,” she said.
