A proposed red-light enforcement camera program, stalled for more than a year, is set to move forward again.

The Waco City Council today will discuss the cameras, which would be installed at several intersections to catch motorists who run red lights. The program could begin as early as this fall.

The council approved the camera concept in February 2009, but city staff decided to hold off because of attempts in the state Legislature to ban such cameras.

“Why get started if the Legislature is going to kill it?” City Manager Larry Groth said.

But Groth said he’s now more confident that the programs will survive the next legislative session, as long as participating cities can prove they’re a safety tool and not a cash cow.

“As long as we can get a vendor come in and keep it revenue-neutral, maybe we ought to try it,” he said.

The Waco City Council is considering putting red light cameras at intersections deemed dangerous.
Duane A. Laverty/Waco Tribune-Herald

The Legislature in 2007 allowed cities to collect penalties from owners of vehicles that are caught on camera running red lights. More than a dozen Texas cities have tried the systems, usually contracting with a private vendor that installs and operates the cameras in exchange for a cut of the revenue.

Houston alone has cameras at 50 intersections and has issued 773,178 citations, bringing in $41 million in gross revenue, according to media sources. Voters in College Station last fall voted to ban the cameras.

Some critics of red-light cameras say they are intrusive and represent a money grab by cities. Critics also say the cameras are ineffective and actually make intersections more dangerous.

Waco city traffic administrator Rick Charlton said he has heard objections from Waco residents. But he said the cameras have become a proven technique in deterring red-light violations.

“Other Texas municipalities are very happy with them,” Charlton said. “They’re finding success and learning to deal with the issues of red-light camera programs. There’s an up mood about their effectiveness.”

A Texas Transportation Institute study in 2007 and 2008 looked at 56 monitored intersections in various Texas cities and compared crash rates a year before and a year after the cameras.

The government study found crashes dropped from 586 to 413, a 30 percent decline. The number of rear-end crashes increased from 106 to 111, a trend consistent with prior studies. The number of right-angle or “T-bone” crashes decreased by 43 percent.

The study concluded that “red-light camera systems are effective traffic safety countermeasures,” though it acknowledged limitations in the data.

Problem intersections

Groth said the number and location of the cameras would be decided in negotiations with the red-light camera vendor. But he said likely candidates would be well-known problem intersections such as Valley Mills and Waco drives and New Road and Franklin Avenue.

Sammy Citrano, a restaurateur who owns commercial properties near Franklin and New Road, said red-light cameras would make the area safer. He said he had a close call at that intersection.

“People run that New Road light all the time,” he said. “They try to time it, and it’s just dangerous.”

He said the need for public safety outweighs objections to red-light cameras.

“When people start getting hurt, you’ve got to do something,” he said.

Karolyn Barry, a receptionist at Haigood Tire and Auto Center near the intersection, agreed that a red-light camera would tame traffic.

“That’s a very busy straightaway, and you’ve got traffic coming from both directions,” she said. “People just speed through it. I think if cameras were there it would help.”

Under state law, the intersections with red-light cameras must be marked as such with road signs.

jbsmith@wacotrib.com

757-5752

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