Most red-light runners going free

08/09/2005

Chao Xiong,
Star Tribune
August 9, 2005

Only about 40 percent of drivers caught on camera were ticketed for running red lights during the first month in which citations were issued under the new Stop on Red program in Minneapolis.

A total of 11,500 drivers were caught on camera, but technical problems with the cameras, blocked views and legal turns made many of the incidents ineligible, police said.

From July 7 to Aug. 6 about 4,500 drivers were fined $142 each for running a red light, according to police.

Police had expected that gap to be smaller and didn’t anticipate some of the technical problems, which have since been resolved, said Lt. Gregory Reinhardt, who oversees the program.

For example, tree branches grew to block the view of two cameras, Reinhardt said, and one camera was broken for a few days.

Cars without license plates and newly purchased cars also accounted for some of the incidents that were not cited, he said.

Besides the 4,500 tickets, another 1,500 incidents are being reviewed for possible citation, police said.

Reinhardt said police are pleased that the cameras are catching violators, but that they are disappointed people are still running red lights.

“We’re not happy because that means there are a lot of people going through red lights,” he said. “It’s new, people are aware of it, but they haven’t changed their behavior. It’ll take a number of months for them to change their behavior.”

A few cameras appeared June 7, and all 16 cameras at 12 intersections were running by the first week of July. After a 30-day warning period, citations were issued starting July 7. During the warning period, 85 percent of the 3,792 drivers caught on camera would have been eligible for citations, police reported.

One Minneapolis man said he plans to fight his ticket. David A. Johnson, 51, said that he thinks the program is simply a revenue source for the city and that it fails to take other factors into account.

He said he was caught crossing S. 8th Street on July 9 as he drove home from work about 6:30 a.m. The light was yellow and turned red just as he was about to cross the intersection, said Johnson, who admitted he was trying to cross on the yellow light. He said he drove through the red light because he didn’t want to skid to a stop in the middle of the intersection.

“Did I do anything wrong? Yeah, that’s a big question,” he said Monday evening after spending three hours at the Minneapolis traffic violations bureau. “Yeah, the light did turn red, but what’s a guy supposed to do?”

He said he didn’t know that he had been caught or that the intersection, which he regularly crosses, even had cameras until his citation arrived in the mail late last month. Each Stop on Red intersection has signs indicating the presence of cameras.

Whether Johnson’s fear—that he might cause a traffic accident if he stopped abruptly—has become a problem is unknown, Reinhardt said. Accident data will be available in a few months to make that determination, he added.

Reinhardt said he expected about 6,000 incidents per month, not 11,500. The number of drivers who are ticketed is likely to increase in the second month of the program now that problems with the cameras have been fixed, he said.

As for Johnson, he has a hearing next month to review his ticket. Until then, he plans to change his driving habits—that is, he intends to avoid all 12 intersections fitted with cameras.

As for driving through yellow lights, he said: “That’s a tough question. Chances are I’m sure I will, but I don’t know. It’s hard to predict stuff like that.”