More red-light cameras coming

Just about every time the stoplight changes at a busy intersection near University Village, some motorist runs the red light, Jean Amick says.

Amick has seen numerous car wrecks at that corner. But, in the 40 years she has lived nearby, Amick has never seen the police pull someone over for the dangerous and illegal maneuver, she said.

Automated cameras soon will fill that enforcement void.

Seattle crews will install two dozen additional red-light cameras at 19 intersections this year, Mayor Greg Nickels and members of the City Council announced Wednesday.

"It will make our lives safer," said Amick, who lobbied Nickels at a Mariners game last summer and helped collect more than 400 petition signatures calling for the cameras at Northeast 45th Street and Union Bay Place Northeast. That corner soon will get three cameras, Nickels said.

"Run a red light here and you're going to run into trouble," Nickels said at a Wednesday press conference.

Here is how the system works: Each time a suspected light runner passes through an intersection, the car is photographed with a still camera and a short video. The Police Department reviews the photos and in some cases throws out the allegation. Otherwise, the department mails a ticket to the car's owner. The owner has 18 days to pay the fine, ask for a hearing or sign an affidavit attesting that he or she was not driving. If the driver signs such an affidavit, the ticket is tossed. Under state law, tickets issued this way do not appear on driving records.

This year, the fines jump from $101 to $124.

The new cameras are a substantial expansion of a pilot program started in June 2006 with four cameras at three busy intersections. That was later broadened to six cameras at four intersections. The cameras cost about $3,500 a month to lease. So far, fines from the cameras have covered the operating costs.

In fact, according to the City Council, those citations generated more than double the money the cameras cost to operate.

Some on the council hope to complement the cameras with camera-equipped vans to nab speeders. The council approved funding for one such van in the 2008 budget. Seattle police officials now are evaluating technical, legal and other matters regarding implementing the idea, and plan to make recommendations sometime early this year.

The six cameras already in use appear to be making streets safer, according to the mayor's office.

A recent city study found that where the cameras were used, the frequency of light-running dropped. The study initially reported a reduction of as much as 30 percent. But an updated version released by Nickels' office boosted that figure to 50 percent. The jump was thanks to a substantial drop in infractions in more recent months, the office said. Still, results were inconsistent over time, the report noted.

The study found little evidence that the cameras reduced the frequency of car collisions. However, cameras might have helped reduce the severity of the crashes, according to the study. There were fewer wrecks resulting in injuries at intersections in the pilot, it found.

During the one-year pilot period, the city issued 16,539 citations, resulting in about $1.1 million in penalties. More than 70 percent of those ticketed paid their fines.

Still, the underlying goal of the cameras is safety, not a desire to generate income for the city, Deputy Police Chief Clark Kimerer said. "It's not about being punitive for no good purpose," he said. "Although fines do get people's attention."

Last year, the City Council identified pedestrian safety as its top priority for the year. On Wednesday, council members and Nickels sought to cast the cameras as a boon for safe city walking.

"This is a city for pedestrians as well as a city for drivers," outgoing Council President Nick Licata said. "We want to change the culture of driving in Seattle. ... When you see a yellow light, you don't speed up. You slow down."

National surveys often rank Seattle as among the top 10 safest cities for pedestrians, Nickels said. "We intend to be the safest."

HOW EFFECTIVE HAVE THEY BEEN?

A city study found that Seattle's six existing red-light cameras:

Resulted in 16,359 citations to be issued over a one-year period.

Those citations yielded $1.1 million in fines.