CPD
Chief Allen answers questions about how enforcement will work
By
Will Collette
Red light cameras are really coming to Charlestown. They have been installed at Route One and the intersections of East Beach Road and West Beach Road. They should be going live just after Halloween.
Charlestown Police Chief Jeffrey Allen responded to some questions I sent him so you will have the facts on how the traffic enforcement cameras will work.
Charlestown Police Chief Jeffrey Allen responded to some questions I sent him so you will have the facts on how the traffic enforcement cameras will work.
Whether
you’re like me and think they will help deter the dangerous practice of
red-light running or like the many anonymous commenters on the CCA
Party’s website who think they are a sign of creeping socialism, these
cameras are here.
According
to Chief Allen in an October 6 e-mail, “Sensys
[the town’s contractor] is telling me that it will be approx. 14 to 21 days
before the cameras are up and running. They are waiting for some
additional tree trimming, etc.”
In
my
earlier article, I noted that three of the camera units are partially
obscured by tree limbs.
The
town will give residents fair warning and a chance to get adjusted. Chief Allen
says:
"I plan on putting something on PD and Town websites. There will be warning signs posted prior to the intersections….[and] There will be a 15 day period where warnings will be issued.”
CLICK HERE for CPD's new info-sheet on red-light cameras. According to this flyer, enforcement will go live on November 9. UPDATE: there is a TYPO in the CPD brochure listing the start date as November 9, 2015. The November 9 date is correct, but it's November 9, 2014.
Chief
Allen described how the cameras will work:
“According to Sensys, the cameras start recording when it the system predicts that a vehicle will not be able to stop in time. When a vehicle approaches the stop line with the red light a first picture is taken displaying the vehicle behind the stop line with the red light and when the vehicle proceeds in to the intersection crossing the systems confirmation line (not a real line) a second picture is taken with the vehicle in the intersection with the red light displayed. A video clip with the pictures is also attached for evidence. If the vehicle stops short and does not proceed into the intersection the event is deleted.”
So there are before-and-after pictures, plus video. This is reviewed by CPD before a ticket is issued - they have to agree that a red-light violation did indeed occur. Getting a ticket after being caught running the light will cost you $85, but no points against your
license.
I
asked the chief several questions about how these cameras are likely to change
red-light enforcement in Charlestown, going from very few red-light running tickets issued to a lot
more. Chief Allen replied:
“Sensys believes they are going to process approx. 10 to 12 events per day. I don't have a number of tickets [Charlestown has issued] as of this email. I suspect that there are very few issued. [As a follow-up, Chief Allen provided his best estimate - see below]In answer to a followup, Chief Allen said that the Sensys estimate of 10-12 daily "events" is per camera unit. Since there are four units, that means between 40 and 48 recordings of possible violations will be sent to CPD for review, approval or rejection.
I asked Chief Allen about current red-light running incidents. He replied in two parts:
"It is difficult to identify exactly how many red light violations were written over a given period of time. I went back four years and came up with approx. 20 tickets issued in the area of the two red lights in question. The reason why it is difficult is because when the officers enter a location of their stop in the computer they pull a screen at the location they stop the vehicle, which can be various locations on Rte.1 versus the exact location of the red light violation. Again, I went back four years and found 33 violations from the Westerly town line on Rte. 1 to approx. the Dunkin Donuts and this covered all Obedience to Traffic Control tickets, which could be any light or stop sign along the way."
"There are very few accidents at these intersections and without evidence one way or another on who blew the light we don't issue tickets at accident scenes. I responded to two accidents at two intersections on Rte. 1 since I have been chief in town. One was at Rte. 216 @ 1 and the other was at Wildflower at Rte.1. We issued a ticket at one of accidents (Wildflower) because we had an independent witness that observed the violation.”
Ironically,
neither of the two intersections Chief Allen mentions as accident sites (Route One at Wildflower and at Route 218) are
covered by the new red-light cameras.
 |
| Here's a really thoughtful comment posted on our Facebook page in response to my earlier article. Note the photo - a really family man! He doesn't live in Charlestown. Several readers who do live in Charlestown wrote in to say those lights have saved lives. |
According
to the Town Council minutes for June 12, 2012, the Council authorized “Award of the Red Light Camera Enforcement System to Sensys America, Inc.
for a cost of $4,350 per approach per month for the three year term of the
contract with a cost neutrality guaranty.”
With four approaches, that makes the monthly cost $17,400.
As noted, Sensys has told Chief Allen that they expect to have 10-12 daily “events” at each camera. That's a total of between 40-48 camera captures of red-light running every day. Compare that to Chief Allen's estimate that CPD issued approximately 20 tickets near the East Beach and West Beach stop lights in the past four years and 33 "Obedience to Traffic Control" tickets in the same interval.
If we have a potential of 40-48 new camera-generated tickets issued each day at $85 a ticket, the potential annual revenue runs from $1,241,000 to $1,489,200 against a contract cost of $208,800 per year. There are some ins and outs to calculating the town’s share of any “profits”– see the contract here, especially the 27th page of the document.
However, it would not be wise for Charlestown to assume it will have an additional million dollars in the budget next year. That's because:
As noted, Sensys has told Chief Allen that they expect to have 10-12 daily “events” at each camera. That's a total of between 40-48 camera captures of red-light running every day. Compare that to Chief Allen's estimate that CPD issued approximately 20 tickets near the East Beach and West Beach stop lights in the past four years and 33 "Obedience to Traffic Control" tickets in the same interval.
If we have a potential of 40-48 new camera-generated tickets issued each day at $85 a ticket, the potential annual revenue runs from $1,241,000 to $1,489,200 against a contract cost of $208,800 per year. There are some ins and outs to calculating the town’s share of any “profits”– see the contract here, especially the 27th page of the document.
However, it would not be wise for Charlestown to assume it will have an additional million dollars in the budget next year. That's because:
- Not every "event" will result in a ticket.
- Not every ticket will get paid. (See Washington DC's recent experience, below)
- It's also pretty likely that a fairly high percentage of tickets that get challenged by the vehicle owner will get dismissed.
- I would expect that most locals, except for the incurably stupid or determined reckless, will recognize that running those red lights is a bad idea, causing a drop in "events."
Sensys apparently knows all this, as Chief Allen explains:
"According to Sensys, they do not have an exact number of tickets that will be issued but are well aware that these two locations may not deliver the numbers to put them in a position to 'break even'."
I’d expect many more tickets during the tourist season when the New York
and Connecticut “guests” clog the roadways – though the odds of them paying up
are less. During the rest of the year when it’s mostly us law-abiding locals on
the road, the number of tickets will probably go down.
The amount of money the cameras will actually generate, first for the contractor and, if there's any left after the contracted amount is paid, is hard to predict. Take Washington DC's experience (where I first came to appreciate how cameras change driving behavior). The Washington Post reported on September 29 that although the District of Columbia had issued $93.7 million in camera tickets, they actually collected less than 30% ($26.1 million), causing some budget distress since the city had been counting on the revenue.
The actual number of tickets issued in DC also declined, blamed in part on "more motorists obeying the law."
Which was kind of the point of the cameras in the first place.
All that said, I find the idea of Charlestown catching perhaps 40 to 50 red-light runners per day, rather than less than 10 per year, comforting. If indeed 40 to 50 drivers are running the lights at East Beach and West Beach every day - and perhaps a similar number at the two intersections without cameras, that's very scary even though we have not had a lot of red-light related accidents lately.
However, as Colin Foote's family knows, it only takes one.
The amount of money the cameras will actually generate, first for the contractor and, if there's any left after the contracted amount is paid, is hard to predict. Take Washington DC's experience (where I first came to appreciate how cameras change driving behavior). The Washington Post reported on September 29 that although the District of Columbia had issued $93.7 million in camera tickets, they actually collected less than 30% ($26.1 million), causing some budget distress since the city had been counting on the revenue.
The actual number of tickets issued in DC also declined, blamed in part on "more motorists obeying the law."
Which was kind of the point of the cameras in the first place.
All that said, I find the idea of Charlestown catching perhaps 40 to 50 red-light runners per day, rather than less than 10 per year, comforting. If indeed 40 to 50 drivers are running the lights at East Beach and West Beach every day - and perhaps a similar number at the two intersections without cameras, that's very scary even though we have not had a lot of red-light related accidents lately.
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| Colin Foote, R.I.P. May 16, 2010 |
However, as Colin Foote's family knows, it only takes one.
If
this doesn’t work out, Sensys has the right to pull out. Otherwise, Charlestown
and Sensys have the option to renew the contract. If the three year period
started when the contract was signed in June 2012, that decision will need to
be made in June 2015.
Finally,
I asked Chief Allen to comment on an conspiracy theory about red-light cameras that
prompted one guy from North Carolina to write me to say that red-light
cameras violate the laws of physics. I’m not making this up.
The tale told about the cameras is that the vendors and local governments conspire to change the timing of the lights, shortening the yellow light so that it becomes impossible under the laws of physics for drivers to avoid running the red lights.
The tale told about the cameras is that the vendors and local governments conspire to change the timing of the lights, shortening the yellow light so that it becomes impossible under the laws of physics for drivers to avoid running the red lights.
Chief
Allen didn’t buy that theory:
“This theory sounds like nonsense to me. I can't see why anyone who was on the side of justice would change the timing of the lights. For anyone to suggest such a conspiracy is not living in my world. Neither the police or DOT and I would highly doubt Sensys America would participate in such a practice.”
Charlestown’s
four stop lights are all on Route One and are owned and operated by the state
Department of Transportation. DOT has no self-interest in changing the timing
of the lights to benefit either Sensys or Charlestown.
