Most traffic traveling through the busy intersection of FM 306 and Common Street during Thursday’s lunch hour respectfully observed the lights and stopped when their signals glowed red.
But every few light cycles, one or two vehicles would slide through the intersection under a red light, endangering other motorists brave enough to hit the accelerator as soon as their light turned green. Fortunately, none of the red light runners collided with anyone Thursday, but with a 55-mph limit on FM 306 exacerbated by motorists hurrying to avoid getting stopped at the light, any accident would have been serious.
New Braunfels Police Chief Russell Johnson is not surprised by the numbers of people willing to break the city’s traffic laws when no police officer is around to catch them.
“I drive an unmarked vehicle, and 90 percent of the times I’m sitting at a light, I see an infraction of some kind,” he said. “We just don’t have enough manpower to be at every intersection where people run the lights.”
Frustrated over a lack of compliance with the city’s laws and alarmed by a growing number of accidents on city streets, Johnson is preparing to recommend a red light traffic camera program to the New Braunfels City Council. He knows the suggestion of placing 10 cameras at some of the city’s busiest
intersections at little to no cost to the city, could cause consternation among some drivers, but he insists his motivation is purely about law enforcement.
“I know these types of programs can be controversial, but we had 3,400 traffic accidents in the city last year. We’re just trying to get people to follow the law,” he said. Johnson could not confirm how many of last year’s accidents were caused by drivers running red lights.
Criticisms of the programs include concerns about “Big Brother” governmental agencies using the cameras to spy on drivers and fears of an increase in rear end collisions caused by people frantically trying to keep from running a red light. Critics also claim cities only use the cameras to generate more revenue.
At least 10 other Texas cities already have the traffic light cameras installed. More began looking into the possibility after Attorney General Greg Abbott issued an opinion June 23 clearing the way for municipalities to install the cameras on Texas Department of Transportation-owned signals. Johnson said he started researching the traffic light program a year ago, but implementation before Abbott’s ruling would have been difficult.
Now that the cameras are an option at all of the city’s intersections, Johnson hopes city council will see their value.
Extra enforcement
Mayor Bruce Boyer said he knew the program had been successful in other communities and thought it had potential in New Braunfels.
“The idea is for people to know the cameras are there and get them think twice about not obeying the law,” he said. “If everybody obeys the law then there’s no issues with it. I know the police chief and Patrol Capt. John Villarreal have done extensive work in researching and are optimistic as to the response we could get from it.”
Johnson has gathered information from several different companies offering similar programs. The proposed 10 cameras would be installed and maintained by the contractor at no expense to the city. The company would recuperate its expenses through additional fees tacked on to each citation issued through the use of the cameras.
Tickets would be mailed out by the contracted company to the registered owner of a vehicle captured on camera running a red light. By Texas law, the citation would be a civil offense and would not generate a “black mark” on a recipient’s driver’s license. Fines in other cities are set at roughly $75, but Johnson said he had not yet made any determination about what they would be in New Braunfels.
“The ticket amount actually would be set by council, because the program would be part of a city ordinance,” he said. “I can say the fee probably would not be more than what people pay now when an officer writes them a ticket (for running a red light), especially since no court costs would be involved.”
Currently, a red light violation costs drivers $149.
Although the initial implementation would not cost the city anything, Johnson would ask for one part-time police department employee to review any disputes over citations. The review process would be conducted through the city’s municipal court system.
Success elswhere
Programs in other cities have been so successful that at least 18 more Texas municipalities are considering using the cameras, according to a July 31 report from the Texas House of Representatives’ research organization. Statistics gathered by the group indicate the city of Garland has seen citations and violations drop every year since its first cameras were installed in late 2003. Between 2004 and 2005, average monthly violations for four of the city’s five cameras dropped 27 percent. Average monthly citations fell 14 percent during the same period.
The city of Houston will begin its program Sept. 1 at 10 intersections. Additional lights will be added, 10 at a time, until the city’s 50 most dangerous intersections are under surveillance. The nearby cities of Austin and San Antonio also are considering installing the cameras.
Despite regular infractions at the FM 306 and Common Street intersection in New Braunfels, Johnson could not confirm its inclusion in the program, at least at first.
“We would work with the company to study all of our intersections and help pick out 10 or so to start with,” he said. “Selection would be based on the number of infractions at those intersections. We would try to pick the most dangerous ones.”
