Cameras at red lights curb traffic violations in D.C.
The Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) has installed red-light cameras and photo radar to reduce speeding and aggressive driving in the city. The technology has helped curtail red-light running at intersections equipped with cameras and has reduced the average speed of vehicles traveling in the city.
In 1998 and 1999, MPD conducted two citywide telephone surveys to determine the public safety concerns of residents. In every area of the city — including many of the higher-crime areas — residents consistently identified unsafe driving, such as running red lights and stop signs, as their top public safety priority.
In March 1999, MPD contracted with Dallas-based ACS to implement a photo enforcement program that would supplement the department’s traditional traffic safety efforts. Under the contract, the company installs and maintains camera equipment at intersections, processes violations, responds to questions from residents about violations and instructs residents about adjudicating their tickets. MPD establishes the rules for identifying a violation, selects camera locations and makes all operational decisions.
The department began implementing the photo enforcement program in 1999 by installing 10 red-light cameras. By March 2000, the department had installed an additional 29 cameras. At intersections with red-light cameras, sensors embedded in the road detect when a vehicle enters the intersection after the light has turned red, and the camera takes a picture when a vehicle crosses the stop line. The camera takes a second picture after the vehicle has fully entered the intersection. The vendor mails tickets to the owners of the vehicles and includes copies of the photographs showing the violations.
Since MPD began using red-light cameras, traffic violations have dropped nearly 60 percent at intersections with cameras. Additionally, fatalities involving red-light running have dropped from nine per year before 1999, to just one to four fatalities per year in the last three years.
In summer 2001, MPD expanded its photo enforcement program with ACS and added photo radar. Photo radar uses vehicles equipped with cameras to document speeders in areas with high crash and fatality rates. The photo radar vehicle uses a Doppler radar beam to measure the speeds of vehicles. As a vehicle crosses the radar beam, a central processing unit calculates the speed. If the vehicle is traveling over a pre-set threshold, a camera photographs the vehicle. A second snapshot captures information such as the time and date, speed of the vehicle and location. That information is burned directly onto the film negative with the vehicle image. Five photo radar vehicles are deployed daily, rotating among approximately 30 high-risk zones. As with the red-light cameras, the vendor mails tickets to vehicle owners for speed violations.
Since the implementation of photo radar, the percentage of motorists speeding has dropped by nearly 70 percent. Additionally, the average speed of vehicles in residential neighborhoods, arteries and highways has been reduced.
All costs associated with the city’s photo enforcement program are more than offset by the fines that it generates. From August 1999 through October 2002, the automated red-light enforcement program collected more than $19 million in fines based on almost 335,000 tickets issued. During the first 15 months of photo radar enforcement, more than 408,000 tickets were issued, and more than 275,000 were paid, resulting in approximately $20.6 million in fines collected.
When the department established its photo enforcement program, it paid a fee to the vendor for each photo enforcement ticket that was paid. Some residents criticized that fee arrangement, suggesting it provided an incentive to issue more tickets. To maintain public trust in the program, the city renegotiated the contract in 2002 to provide a flat monthly fee to the vendor.
MPD educates residents about the dangers of speeding and red-light running, as well as the benefits of photo enforcement. For example, the department participates in numerous traffic safety forums, community and neighborhood association meetings, and public affairs programs in the local media. MPD maintains a Web site (http://mpdc.dc.gov/main.shtm) that provides statistics and other information about photo enforcement, including the locations of all cameras in the city. Open and frequent communication with residents increases understanding and acceptance of the technology, thereby improving public safety.