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Traffic Cameras Up For Final Vote

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By TONY MARRERO

Published: April 17, 2008

BROOKSVILLE - Last month, the Brooksville City Council gave a tentative blessing to install traffic cameras at city intersections to catch red-light runners in the act.

But at least three of the five council members said they wanted more information before they gave their final approval.

Police Chief George Turner obliged with nearly 200 pages on the subject that included data on traffic violations and crashes at city intersections as well as reports and newspaper clips on the controversial cameras.

Now the council is set to make a second and final vote on the issue at its next regular meeting, slated for 7 p.m. Monday at City Hall, 20 N. Howell Ave.

"Red light running is a growing problem as the traffic in our area increases," Turner wrote in a memo to the council.

There are 14 signaled intersections in the city, and traffic statistics indicate the most dangerous of them, such as South Broad Street and Cortez Boulevard, and Jefferson Street and Ponce De Leon Boulevard, according to Turner's report. It's not possible to monitor them all the time, he wrote.

"The camera enforcement program will make (the intersections) safer by reducing aggressive driving and red light running," Turner wrote.

The council last month voted 3-2 to give the initial approval to establish a traffic camera program but stopped short of committing to a contract with Scottsdale, Ariz.-based American Traffic Solutions. Final approval of the program — and a contract with ATS to install the cameras — would depend on whether crash statistics show a need for them, the council agreed.

Between January 2000 and March of this year, the Brooksville Police Department handed out 2,063 citations for "violation of traffic control devices," which includes traffic lights and stop signs, according to Turner's report.

The department investigated 573 crashes between January 2007 and March, 2008, Turner reported. Of those, 30 percent "were at and or attributed to red light controlled intersections." It's unclear, though, how many of those were caused by red light runners.

Turner included in his report the results of studies that found the cameras reduced traffic accidents or red light violations by as much as 93 percent in cities large and small throughout the country.

And he also added a testimonial from a transportation expert that questioned the methodology of a recent study by an associate professor at the University of South Florida that indicated the traffic cameras actually increase rear-end collisions at intersections as motorists jam on the brakes when they see yellow lights to avoid being ticketed.

In an e-mail sent to Mayor David Pugh and City Manager Jennene Norman-Vacha, Edward Mierzejewski, director of the Center for Urban Transportation Research at USF said Barbara Langland-Orban's study is actually a "synthesis" of other studies.

Her conclusion is questionable, Mierzejewski wrote, because it "focuses on a couple of contrary studies" and does not take into account "the many studies that support the effectiveness of red light running cameras," including a report by the National Academy's Transportation Research Board that concluded a majority of jurisdictions that have started a traffic camera program have reported downward trends in red light violations and crashes, "especially the more severe types, Mierzejewski wrote.

Installation of the cameras comes at no cost to the city. Instead, ATS would take $40 from every $125 ticket issued to an offender, leaving $85 for the city. The citations would be civil infractions, not traffic tickets. Council members were impressed by the quality of the video and still images captured by the high-resolution cameras that can hone in on even the dirtiest of license plates.

ATS has deals in "nearly every major (U.S.) city," including New York, Philadelphia and Houston, Greg Parks, regional vice-president for the company, told the council last month. The firm has also been selected in about 90 percent of Florida cities that approved a traffic camera program, including Jacksonville, Miami, New Port Richey and Temple Terrace, he said.

Vice-Mayor Frankie Burnett and Council member Joe Bernardini voted against the plan. Bernardini said then that he worried the program would be perceived as a revenue grab unless there are statistics to justify it.

He said Thursday that he plans to wade through Turner's report and also hopes to meet with him today.

"I want to hear him out," he said.

Burnett didn't return a call seeking comment.

Council member Lara Bradburn, a staunch supporter of the cameras, said Turner's report only affirmed what she already believes: that the cameras will save lives.

"If we save just one life," she said, "isn't it worth it?"

Brooksville's most dangerous intersections

These five intersections within the Brooksville city limits had the highest accident rate since January 2000 and would likely get traffic cameras if the city council approves a program next week:

* Cortez Boulevard and South Broad Street.

* Cortez and Buck Hope Road.

* Cortez and Cobb Road.

* South Broad Street and Wiscon Road.

* Jefferson Street and Ponce De Leon Boulevard.

Reporter Tony Marrero can be reached at 352-544-5286 or lmarrero@hernandotoday.com.

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