The City of Somerville has backed an initiative to install traffic cameras to ticket red light violators at high-accident intersections, but the proposal has hit a roadblock at the state level.
Somerville joined over 30 Massachusetts cities and towns in sending a letter in early April to Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick asking him to consider the implementation of photo-enforcement technology at red lights. Current state law prohibits ticketing with this technology because it would allow the police to treat the running of a red light "the way a parking ticket is written," Somerville Police Captain Paul Upton said, meaning that the car's owner, rather than the person driving, would receive the ticket.
The photo-enforcement program uses a close-up photograph of the license plate to identify cars that run red lights. Police then ticket the owner of the car, making the vehicle's owner responsible for the behavior of its driver.
"The administration is reviewing the issues, and we are trying to determine if there are any workable solutions," Terrel Harris, a spokesman for the Patrick administration's Public Safety Department, told the Daily. While Harris acknowledged that the installation of traffic cameras would create a number of logistical issues, he said that they would also provide "potential public safety and municipal revenue benefits."
According to Harris, no legislative action has been taken to allow for red-light photo enforcement.
Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone and Police Department Chief Anthony Holloway both signed the letter to Patrick, which was circulated by Red Flex Traffic Systems, a camera vendor that is vying for Somerville's business.
In Massachusetts, the operator of the vehicle bears the legal responsibility for a red-light violation. In order to identify the operator of the vehicle, the police department "would have to photograph the occupants of the vehicle under state law," Upton said, which is "timely, cost-prohibitive and not practical."
Photo-enforcement programs have already been implemented in 25 other states. According to Upton, the programs in other states have had noticeable public-safety benefits.
The letter to the governor cites statistics for several cities that have seen dramatic decreases in red-light running and traffic accidents. In Chicago, the running of red lights has decreased by 55 percent since 2003, and in Savannah, Ga., it has decreased by 45 percent in the same timeframe, according to Red Flex's letter.
After watching a demonstration of the red-light technology, Upton said he realized its benefits. "I truly became convinced that this technology will save lives, reduce injuries and, because of that, reduce everyone's insurance rates," he said.
The traffic cameras take a five- to 10-second video clip of each vehicle that runs a red light. They also take three still color photographs of the car: one of the car at the red light before crossing the stop line, one of the car after crossing the stop line and one close-up of the license plate. The photographs give the speed of vehicle.
A police officer views the video and photographs for each violation. "The officer would then make a decision as to whether or not the citation should be issued," Upton said. Exceptions are made for police or ambulance emergencies, funeral processions and stolen vehicles.
Upton said that the traffic camera program would not cost Somerville any money. The city would contract out to a successful bidding camera vendor, like Red Flex, and the vendor would fund the permit process, construction, installation and maintenance of the cameras. Somerville would pay a "per-approach" fee to the vendor for each red-light violation, but Upton said the revenue collected from traffic tickets would offset these fees.
According to Upton, however, the main goal of a red light photo-enforcement program is prevention. The police department hopes that the traffic cameras will deter drivers from running red lights.
The cameras are "not going to be disguised - they're going to be announced in advance," Upton said. Somerville residents will be informed of the locations of the cameras.
Upton also emphasized that cameras will only be placed in areas where red-light running is a common problem.
"We're not talking about putting this technology in every location in the city," Upton said. Cameras would only be placed in "high-accident areas."
