Tomball city officials gave the green light Monday to a new city ordinance allowing the installation of red-light cameras at intersections.

City Council also approved a five-year renewable contract with Scottdale, Ariz.-based Redflex Traffic Systems Inc. to install and operate a photographic traffic signal enforcement system at a minimum of four intersections — and up to 20 intersections — to record photographs and video of vehicles that run red lights.

Redflex will conduct an engineering survey to determine the intersections that warrant red-light cameras. Police Capt. Rickey Doerre said the Texas 249/FM 2920 and Texas 249/Zion Road intersections will probably rank among the top four to six that will be selected for the program.

Doerre said the council’s approval of the ordinance and the contract was the last step in a year-long study process conducted by the Police Department into the red-light enforcement system. The goal, he said, is to reduce traffic accidents by changing drivers’ behavior at those intersections.

“Hopefully it will be online in a six-month period, but that may be stretching it,” Doerre said. “The most important thing is that everything was approved tonight.”

The ordinance establishes rules and regulations for installing and operating the system, as well as a civil penalty of $75 for those convicted of a red-light violation, and the method for contesting alleged violations.

According to the contract, the system comes at no cost to the city. Redflex will pay to install and operate the system, and would garner up to $4,870 a month per intersection from fines paid to the city for red-light violations.

If the amount due to the company is not covered by the fines received by the city in a given month, that deficit amount will be carried forward and paid off through future surpluses.

Any additional revenue would be split evenly between the city and the Texas Department of Transportation, which owns the two major roadways — Texas 249 and FM 2920 — that traverse Tomball. The state’s share will be sent to the Texas comptroller’s office and deposited in a regional trauma account, and the city’s share will be utilized to fund traffic safety programs.

Lee Buckels, Redflex regional sales manager, said the company will work with the city and police department on a public awareness campaign about the camera system.

According to the contract, the company will issue all violation notices within two days of notification from the Police Department that a violation exists. A Tomball police officer will review all photographs to determine if the law was broken.

Violators would have access to photos through an Internet site, and all residents with questions will be able to call a toll-free number. A hearing officer or judge would handle contested cases.

Houston Red Light Cameras Fail to Prove Safety Benefit

After a year of red light camera use in Houston, Texas there is no evidence that the devices have saved lives.

One year after the installation of red light cameras, Houston, Texas Mayor Bill White declared the program a success, claiming the devices have led to a “dramatic decline” in the number of accidents. Further investigation by local television station KPRC suggests the ticketing devices may not have created such a clear-cut safety benefit.

A total of eighteen camera systems have been operating for the past year. KPRC compared the number of accidents one year before the devices were installed to one year after and found that ten intersections showed fewer collisions while seven showed an increase. In the case of the intersection of FM1960 and Tomball Parkway, the jump was a staggering 220 percent.

The number of accidents at a given intersection fluctuates from year to year so that a single year’s results can sometimes be misleading. This is especially the case when cameras are installed at intersections that, in one year, happened to have an abnormally high collision rate. A statistical error known as “regression to the mean” occurs when the natural drop in the number of accidents to a more normal level is ascribed to some other cause, such as red light cameras.

KPRC’s investigation also noted that cameras were installed in at least four intersections where collisions were extremely rare. Mayor White admitted factors other than safety went into the selection of camera locations. White promised a report in January that would show the benefits of the devices which have generated millions in revenue for the city.

View KPRC’s accident spreadsheet (18k PDF file).

Source: Do Red-Light Cameras Reduce Accidents? (KPRC-TV (TX), 11/20/2007)