Red-light cameras raise some red flags
Some cities, vendors are profiting but unclear if safety is improving
AP
updated 5:22 p.m. ET, Fri., March. 13, 2009
CLIVE, Iowa - Minutes after Neel Manglik illegally turned right on a red light in the Des Moines suburb of Clive, a video popped up on a computer at an office park outside Scottsdale, Ariz.
The $75 citation arrived in the mail weeks later, making Manglik one of the millions of Americans ticketed as part of a growing industry that is making handsome profits for companies that operate video cameras at busy intersections throughout the nation.
As more cities sign up and others invest their profits into more cameras, those companies expect increased revenue for years to come.
What's less clear is whether the cameras improve safety. While studies show fewer T-bone crashes at lights with cameras and fewer drivers running red lights, the number of rear-end crashes increases.
Aaron Quinn, spokesman for the Wisconsin-based National Motorists Association, said there are cheaper safety alternatives to red-light cameras, including lengthening yellow-light times.
''We say, the red-light camera wouldn't have stopped anyone from getting hit,'' Quinn said. ''Once (a city) sees one city getting it miles away, and that first city makes a bunch of money, they want to do it, too. It's like a virus.''
Albany, Ore., population 48,000, issued 1,119 traffic camera tickets for $77,200 in 2008. By comparison, in 2006 only 4,000 tickets were issued for all traffic infractions.
In St. Peters, Mo., a city of 55,000, red-light cameras resulted in 3,203 tickets issued from January 2007 to September 2008, and drew a total of $235,973. The city issued 14,836 traffic tickets in fiscal year 2006, but that jumped to 21,745 in 2008, the first full fiscal year with the cameras.
Clive Police Chief Robert Cox said there's no doubt the cameras are a cheaper option than having an officer on the street.
''With the number of calls for service our city generates, we can't devote that much time to red-light enforcement,'' Cox said. ''We were missing a lot of violations.''
Raising revenue
But not all cities make money off of the tickets. Contracts between companies and cities can affect how much money the cities get.
In Clive, for instance, the red-light camera program generated $39,548.65 between July 2006 and March 2007, but all of that money went to the camera company because Clive didn't ticket enough drivers in any single month to make money. Clive has since changed its contract and now gets a percentage of each ticket.
The largest red-light camera company, Redflex Traffic Systems of Scottsdale, operates red-light or speed cameras in 22 states, and added 79 cities last year. It signed a $32 million maintenance contract with Chicago last fall, and in just the last three weeks of last year, Redflex added five new cities.
Redflex saw net, after-tax profits of $10.6 million in fiscal year 2008, up from $7.3 million the year before.
That ticket in Clive shows why: More than half of the $75 fine went to Redflex.
''That's ridiculous,'' said Ashok Manglik, a physician who paid his wife's ticket. ''Why should it go to the camera company? At least 90 percent should go to the city.''
Some cities, vendors are profiting but unclear if safety is improving
AP
updated 5:22 p.m. ET, Fri., March. 13, 2009
CLIVE, Iowa - Minutes after Neel Manglik illegally turned right on a red light in the Des Moines suburb of Clive, a video popped up on a computer at an office park outside Scottsdale, Ariz.
The $75 citation arrived in the mail weeks later, making Manglik one of the millions of Americans ticketed as part of a growing industry that is making handsome profits for companies that operate video cameras at busy intersections throughout the nation.
As more cities sign up and others invest their profits into more cameras, those companies expect increased revenue for years to come.
What's less clear is whether the cameras improve safety. While studies show fewer T-bone crashes at lights with cameras and fewer drivers running red lights, the number of rear-end crashes increases.
Aaron Quinn, spokesman for the Wisconsin-based National Motorists Association, said there are cheaper safety alternatives to red-light cameras, including lengthening yellow-light times.
''We say, the red-light camera wouldn't have stopped anyone from getting hit,'' Quinn said. ''Once (a city) sees one city getting it miles away, and that first city makes a bunch of money, they want to do it, too. It's like a virus.''
Albany, Ore., population 48,000, issued 1,119 traffic camera tickets for $77,200 in 2008. By comparison, in 2006 only 4,000 tickets were issued for all traffic infractions.
In St. Peters, Mo., a city of 55,000, red-light cameras resulted in 3,203 tickets issued from January 2007 to September 2008, and drew a total of $235,973. The city issued 14,836 traffic tickets in fiscal year 2006, but that jumped to 21,745 in 2008, the first full fiscal year with the cameras.
Clive Police Chief Robert Cox said there's no doubt the cameras are a cheaper option than having an officer on the street.
''With the number of calls for service our city generates, we can't devote that much time to red-light enforcement,'' Cox said. ''We were missing a lot of violations.''
Raising revenue
But not all cities make money off of the tickets. Contracts between companies and cities can affect how much money the cities get.
In Clive, for instance, the red-light camera program generated $39,548.65 between July 2006 and March 2007, but all of that money went to the camera company because Clive didn't ticket enough drivers in any single month to make money. Clive has since changed its contract and now gets a percentage of each ticket.
The largest red-light camera company, Redflex Traffic Systems of Scottsdale, operates red-light or speed cameras in 22 states, and added 79 cities last year. It signed a $32 million maintenance contract with Chicago last fall, and in just the last three weeks of last year, Redflex added five new cities.
Redflex saw net, after-tax profits of $10.6 million in fiscal year 2008, up from $7.3 million the year before.
That ticket in Clive shows why: More than half of the $75 fine went to Redflex.
''That's ridiculous,'' said Ashok Manglik, a physician who paid his wife's ticket. ''Why should it go to the camera company? At least 90 percent should go to the city.''
