Since the beginning of March, the Puyallup Police Department has been issuing warnings and tweaking a camera system at city intersections meant to deter drivers from running red lights.
The mission is to prevent as many vehicle collisions and injuries as possible, said Sgt. Bob Thompson. It’s a matter of behavior modification.
“(A yellow light means) it’s not time to put the accelerator on,” Thompson said. “It’s time to cover the brake and stop.”
In the first 17 days of the warning period there were more than 2,500 violations, which averaged more than 100 per day. The warning period was scheduled to end March 31, but will be extended through April. There are three intersections with the camera system: 39th Avenue Southwest and Ninth Street Southwest; 31st Avenue Southeast and South Meridian and River Road and North Meridian.
Because of such a high volume and the city’s emphasis that this program is for safety not tickets, the city decided to extend the warning period.
“This is about safety, not about increasing revenue,” said City Manager Gary McLean.
It’s a significant problem in Puyallup, said Puyallup Police Chief Robin James.
“Unfortunately this is going to be an enforcement education process,” Thompson said.
But it’s not just Puyallup drivers; many of those caught running a red light have been from out of town, Thompson said.
On May 1, warnings will be replaced by $124 tickets for each violation.
But the tickets are not considered a moving violation and will not affect a person’s driving record.
“It doesn’t affect your drivers’ status,” Thompson said. “It’s like a parking ticket.
In the road, leading up to the stop light, there are censors that calibrate the speed of a vehicle and if it could reasonably go through an intersection before the light turns red. If the speed is too high the cameras take photos and make a digital video recording of the vehicle. The stop bar at the intersection is where the vehicle must stop to not run a red light. If the driver doesn’t stop the cameras go into action.
The camera system takes a picture of the vehicle before it enters the intersection and one in the intersection. A digital video recording is also made entering and exiting the intersection.
“If the pictures aren’t there we don’t see them,” Thompson said.
All that information is sent to the vendor, American Traffic Solutions, to process the information, such as the car, the license plate number and who the vehicle is registered to.
Then all that information, including the photos and digital video, is sent back to the Puyallup Police Department to review. A commissioned police officer then determines if there was a violation.
“If we consider it a violation then we will approve it,” Thompson said.
A supervisor then processes the rejection or approval of a violation and it is sent back to the vendor to send a $124 ticket to the registered owner of the vehicle.
“There’s probably four sets of eyes on it by the time this thing gets approved,” Thompson said.
Within the ticket information sent to the registered owner are the photos, how to access the digital video online, how to pay the ticket, how to contest it or how to respond if the driver was not the registered owner at the time. If the registered owner was not the driver, they do have to provide information about who was driving the vehicle.
By law, the ticket has to be mailed within 14 days of the recorded infraction, but if a driver thinks they’ve run a red light, they can’t just call the police department to find out immediately. It has to go through the process, Thompson said.
Even with the extra eyes on processing tickets the camera system allows for more police officers to concentrate on other duties, James said.
For example, at an intersection like Meridian and River Road, where one of the camera systems is, it would take at least two to three patrol units to safely pull a driver over for running a red light, James said.
It still remains to be seen how effective the camera systems are, but if the numbers follow what other jurisdictions have done there should be a significant impact, James said.
In the next couple of months, the police department should have enough data to make a clear assessment. They may choose to move or add camera systems if they decide it is necessary.
“We’re going to review what happens in Puyallup,” he said. “There’s plenty of flexibility here.”
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