Traffic cameras fail to deter Auburn red-light runners

Traffic cameras fail to deter Auburn red-light runners

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Story Published: Mar 2, 2007 at 7:54 PM PDT

Story Updated: Mar 2, 2007 at 8:07 PM PDT

By Eric Schudiske

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Drivers who run red lights in Auburn might be missing the learning curve. The same number of people run red lights now as when cameras were first set up at intersections six months ago.

Police cameras at three Auburn intersections snap nearly indisputable evidence when the lights turn red and drivers don't stop.

Donna Johnston felt the sting of getting a ticket in the mail.

"It was a hundred and some dollars or something. It hurt. It hurt enough for me to pay attention," she said.

Johnston's not alone in feeling that sting since the cameras started rolling six months ago.

The cameras catch more than 1000 people per month running red lights. Every month, police were told, drivers would learn. But Cmdr. Greg Wood with the Auburn Police Department said so far, that hasn't happened.

"We're not seeing this. We account that to the fact we have a lot of out of town traffic traveling on auburn way south," he said.

Wood and other police officers monitor the traffic cameras almost every morning and decide whether there is enough evidence to prove someone ran a light.

Tickets from the cameras poured $160,000 into the city so far.

But police hope revenue dips and safety improves in the next six months.

You can read more about the effects of traffic cameras around the Puget Sound area in the Saturday edition of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer at the paper's Web site.

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