Bellingham approves red-light cameras
BELLINGHAM, Wash. -- After deciding to forego a previously scheduled public hearing, the Bellingham City Council voted 6-1 on Monday to install red-light cameras at five intersections and speed-monitoring cameras in two school zones, including one in the block where a toddler was killed Sept. 30 while crossing the street holding her mother's hand.
Melissa Brulotte told the council she hopes that the cameras will help to prevent accidents like the one that claimed the life of her 2-year-old daughter, Anna, as they crossed street near Assumption Catholic School and Bellingham High School.
"I wish that my daughter hadn't died," Brulotte told the council. "But I hope that it has maybe helped other kids not have the same thing happen to them."
When the pilot project launches in January, Bellingham will become the 23rd city in the state to use cameras to record images of the license plates of cars that speed or run red lights and issue tickets based on the photo evidence. The photos are at the heart of opponents who are concerned about privacy.
"Running red-lights in this city is horrible," Bellingham City Council President Gene Knutson said. "There are a lot of people who don't like the cameras, but when you go into a grocery store, you go into a hospital, everywhere you go there is cameras. So I don't buy that issue."
The council had scheduled a hearing on the issue for Oct. 4, but it was postponed because of police investigations of missing Western Washington University student Dwight Clark and the death Anna Brulotte, Knutson said.
Knutson said he and the rest of the council felt that they had enough information to make a decision and voted 7-0 not to have a public hearing. Opponents of the cameras, including Mukilteo-based anti-tax activist Tim Eyman, objected to the lack of public hearing and said that cameras are an invasion of privacy.
"What is the problem with asking the voters in a public vote whether they want these obnoxious cameras or not?" Eyman said. "The fact that they aren't willing to do that tells you everything you need to know about how much public support there is for these cameras. If they thought there was plenty of public support they wouldn't have a problem making a vote on it."
Mukilteo voters put brakes on red-light cameras
Mukilteo was also considering photo-enforcement cameras, but 71 percent of voters in the November election supported Proposition 1, forcing any photo-enforcement proposal to receive a two-thirds City Council approval and then go to a public vote before cameras could be installed.
"I am struck that such a liberal community like Mukilteo, that was just a screaming canary in the coal mine for 71 percent of the people willing to vote on (Proposition 1), why that wouldn't have a substantial affect in a liberal community like Bellingham," Eyman said. "The fact is this is a very similar electorate and the fact that only 29 percent of people in Mukilteo are in favor of these cameras, do you really think it is that much different in Bellingham?"
Nick Sherwood, a key backer of Proposition 1, said that one of his biggest concerns with the cameras is that the local governments would be handing over the enforcement of the traffic laws to private, for-profit corporations.
"So this for-profit corporation, which makes money by finding people guilty, is essentially put in charge of who has and hasn't performed a violation," Sherwood said in a phone interview.
Sherwood expressed concerns that the local government is using the photo-enforcement cameras as a way to make more money and not as a way to fix the problem.
"I find it very disturbing in that the local governments say that the intersections are dangerous but they don't try to solve the problem," Sherwood said. "There is no incentive for fixing the problem, the incentive is busting people for petty technical violations."
Bellingham pilot program plans cameras in high-density areas
Knutson said that the program is about public safety and not about generating more revenue. He said that the success of the program should ultimately result in a decrease in revenue and an increase in safety. Tickets for violations discovered by photo enforcement cameras will not exceed $250 and all of the photos will be vetted by a trained police officer, Knutson said.
Two of the intersections with red-light cameras would include westbound Holly Street at North Forest Street and northbound Ellis Street at Lakeway Drive in downtown Bellingham, while the other three will be at northbound Meridian Street at Telegraph Road, southbound Samish Way at 36th Street and northbound 36th Street at Samish Way.
The use of photo enforcement cameras will be limited to those locations as part of a pilot program that will last for one year. After one year the City Council will decide if it wants to purchase more cameras or discontinue them.
Two of the red-light cameras would be placed in downtown Bellingham, where 84 traffic accidents have occurred from the beginning of January to the end of October of 2010 - nearly 9 percent of the traffic accidents in the entire city during that span.
On Holly Street, 17 accidents have occurred from July 1 to Oct. 31, including two hit-and-run accidents and with four accidents involving injuries.
The city will buy the cameras from Arizona-based American Traffic Solutions (ATS), the company from which Seattle also purchased its photo-enforcement cameras in January 2006.
Seattle program shows cameras decreasing most violations
Seattle began with a pilot program using four red-light cameras and two speed cameras, according to Seattle Police Strategic Advisor Mike Quinn.
Quinn said that the year-long pilot program resulted in a significant reduction in traffic violations and accidents, so the city bought an additional 24 cameras to be placed at 19 intersections.
Quinn said that one of the biggest benefits was that intersections could be monitored all day, every day, without having to station police officers to do the same work.
"Just figure what kind of officer staff you would need to have in order to provide one officer at each intersection 24/7, 365,"Quinn said in a phone interview. "So officers can spend their time doing more value added work like fighting crime or whatever you want them to do. So the automated approach makes a lot of sense."
Seattle makes about $4 million in annual revenue from its traffic cameras, Quinn said.
"If you place the cameras properly they create more in revenue than it costs to operate them," Quinn said. "But cities do good things with that money: They buy additional officers or create more parks, for example."
Quinn said that the funds from traffic violations in Seattle go into a general fund, but other cities might put the funds into a traffic-geared fund.
Camera-opponent Sherwood also expressed concerns for privacy, but Quinn said the cameras only take pictures of vehicles that violate the laws, are only allowed to take pictures of the backs of vehicle and do not take pictures of drivers. Quinn also said that courts found that people have no expectations of privacy while in a public place.
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's Highway Loss Data Institute, a non-profit organization, red-light cameras are currently used in 26 states including the District of Columbia.
A study by the institute showed that traffic cameras do decrease future accidents. In Oxnard, Calif., a study found that a crash involving injuries decreased 68 percent. But the cameras did not prove to be completely beneficial. Because more drivers were attempting to stop at the last second, the study found that rear-end collisions were 15 percent higher.
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TJ Cotterill is a Western Washington University journalism student.
Melissa Brulotte told the council she hopes that the cameras will help to prevent accidents like the one that claimed the life of her 2-year-old daughter, Anna, as they crossed street near Assumption Catholic School and Bellingham High School.
"I wish that my daughter hadn't died," Brulotte told the council. "But I hope that it has maybe helped other kids not have the same thing happen to them."
When the pilot project launches in January, Bellingham will become the 23rd city in the state to use cameras to record images of the license plates of cars that speed or run red lights and issue tickets based on the photo evidence. The photos are at the heart of opponents who are concerned about privacy.
"Running red-lights in this city is horrible," Bellingham City Council President Gene Knutson said. "There are a lot of people who don't like the cameras, but when you go into a grocery store, you go into a hospital, everywhere you go there is cameras. So I don't buy that issue."
The council had scheduled a hearing on the issue for Oct. 4, but it was postponed because of police investigations of missing Western Washington University student Dwight Clark and the death Anna Brulotte, Knutson said.
Knutson said he and the rest of the council felt that they had enough information to make a decision and voted 7-0 not to have a public hearing. Opponents of the cameras, including Mukilteo-based anti-tax activist Tim Eyman, objected to the lack of public hearing and said that cameras are an invasion of privacy.
"What is the problem with asking the voters in a public vote whether they want these obnoxious cameras or not?" Eyman said. "The fact that they aren't willing to do that tells you everything you need to know about how much public support there is for these cameras. If they thought there was plenty of public support they wouldn't have a problem making a vote on it."
Mukilteo voters put brakes on red-light cameras
Mukilteo was also considering photo-enforcement cameras, but 71 percent of voters in the November election supported Proposition 1, forcing any photo-enforcement proposal to receive a two-thirds City Council approval and then go to a public vote before cameras could be installed.
"I am struck that such a liberal community like Mukilteo, that was just a screaming canary in the coal mine for 71 percent of the people willing to vote on (Proposition 1), why that wouldn't have a substantial affect in a liberal community like Bellingham," Eyman said. "The fact is this is a very similar electorate and the fact that only 29 percent of people in Mukilteo are in favor of these cameras, do you really think it is that much different in Bellingham?"
Nick Sherwood, a key backer of Proposition 1, said that one of his biggest concerns with the cameras is that the local governments would be handing over the enforcement of the traffic laws to private, for-profit corporations.
"So this for-profit corporation, which makes money by finding people guilty, is essentially put in charge of who has and hasn't performed a violation," Sherwood said in a phone interview.
Sherwood expressed concerns that the local government is using the photo-enforcement cameras as a way to make more money and not as a way to fix the problem.
"I find it very disturbing in that the local governments say that the intersections are dangerous but they don't try to solve the problem," Sherwood said. "There is no incentive for fixing the problem, the incentive is busting people for petty technical violations."
Bellingham pilot program plans cameras in high-density areas
Knutson said that the program is about public safety and not about generating more revenue. He said that the success of the program should ultimately result in a decrease in revenue and an increase in safety. Tickets for violations discovered by photo enforcement cameras will not exceed $250 and all of the photos will be vetted by a trained police officer, Knutson said.
Two of the intersections with red-light cameras would include westbound Holly Street at North Forest Street and northbound Ellis Street at Lakeway Drive in downtown Bellingham, while the other three will be at northbound Meridian Street at Telegraph Road, southbound Samish Way at 36th Street and northbound 36th Street at Samish Way.
The use of photo enforcement cameras will be limited to those locations as part of a pilot program that will last for one year. After one year the City Council will decide if it wants to purchase more cameras or discontinue them.
Two of the red-light cameras would be placed in downtown Bellingham, where 84 traffic accidents have occurred from the beginning of January to the end of October of 2010 - nearly 9 percent of the traffic accidents in the entire city during that span.
On Holly Street, 17 accidents have occurred from July 1 to Oct. 31, including two hit-and-run accidents and with four accidents involving injuries.
The city will buy the cameras from Arizona-based American Traffic Solutions (ATS), the company from which Seattle also purchased its photo-enforcement cameras in January 2006.
Seattle program shows cameras decreasing most violations
Seattle began with a pilot program using four red-light cameras and two speed cameras, according to Seattle Police Strategic Advisor Mike Quinn.
Quinn said that the year-long pilot program resulted in a significant reduction in traffic violations and accidents, so the city bought an additional 24 cameras to be placed at 19 intersections.
Quinn said that one of the biggest benefits was that intersections could be monitored all day, every day, without having to station police officers to do the same work.
"Just figure what kind of officer staff you would need to have in order to provide one officer at each intersection 24/7, 365,"Quinn said in a phone interview. "So officers can spend their time doing more value added work like fighting crime or whatever you want them to do. So the automated approach makes a lot of sense."
Seattle makes about $4 million in annual revenue from its traffic cameras, Quinn said.
"If you place the cameras properly they create more in revenue than it costs to operate them," Quinn said. "But cities do good things with that money: They buy additional officers or create more parks, for example."
Quinn said that the funds from traffic violations in Seattle go into a general fund, but other cities might put the funds into a traffic-geared fund.
Camera-opponent Sherwood also expressed concerns for privacy, but Quinn said the cameras only take pictures of vehicles that violate the laws, are only allowed to take pictures of the backs of vehicle and do not take pictures of drivers. Quinn also said that courts found that people have no expectations of privacy while in a public place.
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's Highway Loss Data Institute, a non-profit organization, red-light cameras are currently used in 26 states including the District of Columbia.
A study by the institute showed that traffic cameras do decrease future accidents. In Oxnard, Calif., a study found that a crash involving injuries decreased 68 percent. But the cameras did not prove to be completely beneficial. Because more drivers were attempting to stop at the last second, the study found that rear-end collisions were 15 percent higher.
---
TJ Cotterill is a Western Washington University journalism student.
