Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

THIS WEEK IN PICKERINGTON

Council debate heats up over red-light cameras

Wednesday, February 25, 2009 12:58 PM

By NATE ELLIS

ThisWeek Staff Writer

A stalled proposal to introduce red-light cameras to Pickerington might be on the back burner, but that didn't stop the debate over the issue from heating recently.

For the second consecutive meeting, Pickerington City Council tabled legislation on Feb. 17 to allow the installation of photo red-light enforcement cameras at three intersections along state Route 256.

However, council members and other city officials concluded the night's meeting with a prolonged debate over the necessity of the devices, as well as how they should be operated, if approved.

The squabble began after the matter was tabled for at least another two weeks.
Councilman Brian Wisniewski, an opponent of red-light cameras, said should Scottsdale, Ariz.-based RedFlex Traffic Systems Inc. be permitted to donate and maintain the cameras where Route 256 intersects state Route 204/Tussing Road, Refugee Road and Diley/Grandview roads, traffic should be monitored in all four directions. Currently, RedFlex is proposing to monitor only northbound and southbound traffic at the intersections.

''First of all, (the cameras are) a big farce,'' Wisniewski said. ''Secondly, if we're going to do it, we need to do it correctly.
''... I think they need to monitor in all directions. Accidents don't occur from people running red lights just in one direction.''

The argument was supported by council members Christie Hammond and Mike Sabatino, but a motion to require monitoring all directions of traffic at the intersections failed by a 3-4 vote.

Council President Pro Tempore Jeff Fix argued that north-south traffic on Route 256 is significantly higher than east-west traffic traveling through the intersections.
He added that RedFlex, which by contract would receive $50 from each $120 fine paid for a photo-enforced violation, performed a study to determine which directions of traffic should be monitored.

''(RedFlex) is not in the business of losing money, so they're not going to put (cameras) at intersections where there's not a problem,'' Fix said.
City Manager Tim Hansley, who can't vote on the proposed legislation, said requiring RedFlex to donate cameras monitoring four directions of traffic could be a ''deal-breaker'' because it could create a less profitable situation for the company.
Council then supported a motion by Councilman Keith Smith to consider monitoring illegal right turns at red lights at the three intersections by a 4-3 vote. Wisniewski, Hammond and Sabatino opposed the move.

If approved, Pickerington would be the first central Ohio suburb to allow red-light cameras. They already are used by 11 cities throughout the state, including at 18 intersections in Columbus.

The red-light debate could resume at council's March 3 meeting. However, Mayor Mitch O'Brien has asked that a decision be delayed until at least this summer, after a $250,000 project to install an Adaptive Control Software System -- which will use real-time video of traffic to control signal timing along Route 256 -- is complete.

nellis@thisweeknews.com

So happy

I'm so happy to see Jeff's looking out for the best interests of Redflex and his buddies coming from the township so they don't get a ticket!

Mr. Fix don't run again!!

Obviously the city voters have elected a pathological liar to city council. Mr. Fix claims to the public that these cameras will change driving behavior and make he city safer. Occasionally the truth slips out: ''(RedFlex) is not in the business of losing money, so they're not going to put (cameras) at intersections where there's not a problem,'' Fix said.

So what Mr. Fix would like us all to believe is that all of the accidents are caused by the north/south drivers (who by the way are predominately city of Pickerington drivers). That seems to be in conflict with his statement of a couple of weeks ago when he claimed that only 15% of the drivers ticketed would be city residents. If you only look at the Tussing/204/256 intersection then the only drivers being looked at will be those coming up from the City not the township residents and those that live in Columbus in the Park Place area.

If this was all about safety then to prevent a tee-bone type accident it would take cars coming from a 90 degree angle to cause that tee-bone wreak. The fact is that there are only 26 accidents at year at the 256 and Refugee road intersection. That number covers the entire spectrum of accidents and I am not aware of ANY fatal accidents. I mention 256 and Refugee road intersection because it is the worse intersection in the city. The other have fewer accidents. So what is the problem?

The problem is the city is short on revenues and those on council do not have the political courage to face the facts. They need to put all of this other crap aside and do what they must do to increase the city income tax rates. Clearly many on council portray themselves as political people but few have any idea of what is expected of them by the voters. I simply think if they are all so unaware of what the voters think then they need to hire someone to guide them through a campaign and convince the voters of the need to raise the income tax rates.


Mr. Fix if he succeeds in installing these cameras will only turn us all against the council and against anything they ever suggest in the future. I think Mr. Fix has been a total failure in his term on council. I simply don?’t know how he was voted in as their president?