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January 17, 2007

Red Light District

Arlington approves violation-detection system

Story by: Krista Pugh

Contributor to The Shorthorn

The Arlington City Council approved a contract with American Traffic Solutions on Jan. 9 to place red light cameras at the 63 intersections with the highest numbers of red light violators.

In the last five years, more than 1,500 people have been injured due to someone running a red light in Arlington according to Steve Evans, Arlington Police Department management services director.

“We hope for a 25 percent reduction,” Evans said.

The department hopes to have 10 cameras up at intersections in the next 60 days, starting with the intersections owned by the city. The construction at intersections owned by the state will be delayed until action is approved by the Texas Department of Transportation.

Running a red light is a civil violation which warrants a $75 fine.

Ten nearby cities have already implemented red light camera plans. Garland has used the cameras for 3 years, resulting in a 40 percent reduction in side-impact collisions.

“The main objective is to leverage technology to improve traffic safety,” Evans said. The department hopes the system will expand safety enforcement across the city and lessen the output of manpower.

According to Mike Blake, Arlington traffic signal analyst, the affected intersections closest to UTA are at Pioneer Parkway and Cooper Street and Highway 360 and Six Flags Drive.

The red light cameras are self-supporting, so taxes will not be raised. Other participating cities have seen the revenue from fine amounts exceeding installation costs.

The Texas Legislature will vote on how the revenue from the detection system will be dispersed within this session.

“We will defend our right to keep the revenue for the city,” Evans said.

Blake said the construction of each red light camera takes about one month.

The first three intersections to undergo camera construction are Matlock Road and Arbrook Boulevard, South Green Oaks Boulevard and Collins Street, and South Green Oaks Boulevard and Matlock Road, all owned by the city of Arlington.

“This is a tentative plan. None of it is written in stone,” Blake said.

Engineering graduate student Ritam Kharbanda said she hopes the program will prevent wild driving and freak accidents.

“I’m really surprised they haven’t done it yet. I’m from another country and some of them have already done this,” she said. “It’s a nice thing to do. It’s good that drivers will be watched all the time.”

In the next two months the American Traffic Solutions vendors will put up detection equipment to calculate the violation volume and decide where it is easiest to construct. In the following 60 days warning tickets will be sent out to violators, and the city of Arlington will launch a public awareness campaign toward the end of January.