Last November, Capt. Lee Caufield, chief of staff for the Killeen Police Department, made a presentation to the Killeen City Council about red light camera systems and how a system would benefit Killeen, where running red lights seems commonplace.
City officials in Killeen say they will bring up the matter of installing a red light camera system in coming weeks.
Mayor Tim Hancock said the previous council was polled on the subject and as he remembers it everyone was in favor of seeing a proposed ordinance brought forward.
“I will speak for myself when I say I think it’s a good idea,” he said.
Hancock said the next step is for Police Chief Dennis Baldwin to work up a recommendation for the council after conferring with the city attorney and his staff.
“Once we have a recommendation we will act on it,” Hancock said.
Caufield said legal staff is still interpreting Senate Bill 1119.
“But nearly anything in there can be worked around,” Caufield said. “Most of it is what cities have been designing (into their systems) anyway.”
He said the bill’s focus is on stopping people from running red lights while making the system a fair application.
Killeen is considering:
n Posting signs to warn drivers they are on camera.
n Hiring a private contractor to run the system.
n Completing a traffic study of an intersection before installing cameras and then report the results to a citizen’s advisory committee.
n Setting fine amounts.
Caufield said once the council votes an ordinance approving a system, they can look at different systems available on the market. He said some use multiple cameras and others use only one. But all have to do certain things.
“It must be able to show a car before it enters an intersection,” he said. “It must show that the light was red before the car entered the intersection, how long the light was red before it entered the intersection and also show the car inside the intersection with the light red, and then give a time line on that,” Caufield said.
Additionally the photo has to make the license plate readable; the make and model of the car must be easily identifiable; and the day, date and time of the offense must be shown.
He said one concern of critics is that they will be able to enter the intersection under an amber light when the light changes to red and the camera snaps a photo.
“It doesn’t do that,” he said. “It doesn’t pick up amber runners.”
Caufield said in addition to still photography, the system also makes a video of the violation.
He said a human element is entered into the review process. Someone schooled in traffic law or the law examines each set of photos. It could be a part–time position held by a retired police officer, an officer of the court or a lawyer, he said. It’s to ensure an error didn’t occur in the system.
Caufield said the citation is a civil matter and does not go on a person’s driving record.
“If an officer stops you running a red light, it goes on your record,” Caufield said. “Because then it becomes a traffic law violation not a civil (violation) and you have a clear identification of who the driver was at the time the offense occurred.”
Caufield said if an officer stops a driver for running a red light and the driver later gets a citation in the mail from the camera, the civil violation is thrown out.
“There is no double dipping,” he said.
Critics of the systems have claimed that if the camera has a focus sharp enough to identify the driver or passengers inside the vehicle, an invasion of privacy has occurred.
“You are on a public roadway in a public venue and anyone in the cars around you can see you, so that’s not an enclosed private environment,” Caufield said.
He said most of the arguments against the cameras don’t challenge the system on the fact that a motorist ran a red light. They will challenge on other issues, he said.
“’I sold that car last week, ‘or ‘the car was stolen the day before’ are typical arguments,” Caufield said.
He said another argument is that the systems are set up solely as revenue generators. Half the funds generated from fines go to the state comptroller for deposit into a regional trauma account created by the bill. The other 50 percent must be spent on administrative costs to run the system. They can’t go into the city’s general fund, he said.
Caufield said studies in other cities show a 40 percent drop in running red lights. It creates a diminishing cash flow of fines as motorists become culturally adjusted to the fact cameras will record the violations, he said.
There is down side to the cameras.
George Lueck, project engineer for Killeen’s Public Works Department, said studies have shown that following the installation of red light cameras, rear–end collisions increase. Drivers in the lead see an amber light and slow to a stop. Drivers behind think they are going to run the amber light and ram them.
But Caufield and Lueck both agreed that the number of serious injuries from traffic accidents goes down.
“The primary design of cars is to take the heaviest impact front and rear,” Caufield said. “The least amount of safety is a broadside collision and the greatest amount of speed is from a broadside. The potential for injuries is much greater.”
hclark@temple-telegram.com
