Right-on-Red, Red Light Cameras...

[Brent]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 20, 2004

RIGHT-ON-RED ROLLERS RUNNING UP THE NUMBER OF VIOLATIONS AT SAFELIGHT INTERSECTION

CARY, NC – A survey of red light violations at one Cary Safelight location shows that drivers aren’t following some important rules of the road. To give drivers time to make sure the way is clear before proceeding, North Carolina law requires motorists to come to a complete stop before turning right at red lights at intersections. But that’s not happening as often as it should at the intersection of High House Road and Prestonwood Drive, where more than 290 violations out of over 370 in the past six weeks have gone to drivers rolling right, right through red lights.

Town officials hope that by publicizing the problem, they will raise drivers’ awareness of and compliance with the state’s Right-on-Red rules.

“It’s pretty simple: a red light in your lane means stop, no matter what direction you’re heading in at the intersection,” said Town of Cary Deputy Police Chief Pat Bazemore. “As skilled as you may think you are, the full stop is necessary to protect the safety of everyone at the intersection—motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians—and anything less is against the law.”

The Town of Cary now has six of a planned 16 intersections equipped with red light cameras. The move to add photo enforcement is designed to reduce accidents, help keep traffic flowing well by not allowing intersections to be blocked, and economically and efficiently expand police’s ability to enforce traffic safety laws 24/7.

Cary was one of several municipalities that received permission from the General Assembly in 2001 to create red light camera programs. Based on that Legislative authority (SB 243), red light camera citations carry a $50 fine with an additional $50 penalty if the fine is not paid when due. However, no driver's license or insurance points are assessed. Net proceeds go to the Wake County Public School System.

Provided by Redflex of Australia, Cary’s system uses the most advanced digital technology to ensure the highest level of accuracy. In addition to the digital photographs, SafeLight Cary includes a 12 second video clip of each offense. For more about SafeLight Cary, including how Cary’s system works and what other intersections will get cameras, visit SAFELIGHT CARY at www.townofcary.org

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PRIMARY CONTACTS: Chris Davis, Police Records Supervisor, (919) 469-4322
Deputy Chief Pat Bazemore, Cary Police, (919) 460-4919
Bill Coleman, Town Manager, (919) 469-4002
Susan Moran, Public Information Officer, (919) 460-4951

[SteveG]

Right-on-red roll-throughs are a significant cause of car-pedestrian collisions. This happens because drivers are looking to their left for a gap in cars instead of stopping to notice pedestrians entering the crosswalk on their right. There was a senior citizen pedestrian fatality a year or two ago at the Kildaire Farm Road/Cornwall intersection that happened this way. The pedestrian had entered the intersection legally on the pedestrian signal but the driver, looking to the left, rolled through on red. Seniors have a tough time with this kind of violation because they cannot jump out of the way, and they have to start crossing as soon as the walk light starts or else they might not finish crossing before conflicting traffic patterns start with the next phase.

I'm curious how the red light camera system determines that a stop has been made. What is used to determine that velocity has fallen below a certain threshold? The stop could be extremely short and be legal. I'm not sure how that discrimination would be done with inductive loop detectors alone.

[kellyc]

The info that comes back from the cameras is fairly detailed. It gives the amount of time after the light has changed to red, and the time that the person goes thru the light. They have a guy with the Cary PD that all he does is look at these videos. While the ones thru full intersections are pretty easy to judge, these he probably has to watch individually. Whats cool is that he gives all ties to the runner. If there is any question, the person gets no citation.

I've sent him an email to see how he actually checks them to be sure.

Kelly

[kellyc]

This was the response I got from my email:

In order for the system to capture a potential violation, the sensors must detect a vehicle moving from one side of the stop line to the other (into the intersection) at a minimum "pre-determined" speed. The sensors activate digital "still and video" photography. The 12 secs of video is later reviewed (by me) to ensure that the vehicle entered the intersection on red (without stopping). I either accept or reject the violation. If accepted, the citation is then mailed to the registered owner of the vehicle.

[johnb]

I found a web site where a certain firm sells clear plastic covers for your license plate. When photographed the picture is nothing but glare so as to block out the ability of the camera to produce a pic with a recognizable license plate identification. It's not a hard search to execute. I suggest drivers in Cary take reasonable precautions to protect themselves against capricious abuses of this new toy.

[hollyL]

There is also a spray that is suppose to block it.

http://www.washtimes.com/national/20030703-120901-3612r.htm

www.phantomplate.com

[SteveG]

Kelly,

Has the Cary PD experienced any trouble with reading plates due to covers or sprays, other than ordinary dirt?

Most states make anti-visibility plate covers illegal. I don't know about NC. As for a spray, it would be hard to make the plate visible to a human but illegible to a properly configured camera with a properly designed illumination system. But I wouldn't be surprised if the illumination systems used are unsophisticated.

In any event, stopping for red lights before turning right will take me less time than shopping for and installing a way to defeat law enforcement.

-Steve

[johnb]

True, however, such a device should not be used to break the law, only as a self-defense means by which people can protect themselves against this fund raising scheme.

[kellyc]

Kelly,

Has the Cary PD experienced any trouble with reading plates due to covers or sprays, other than ordinary dirt?

Most states make anti-visibility plate covers illegal. I don't know about NC. As for a spray, it would be hard to make the plate visible to a human but illegible to a properly configured camera with a properly designed illumination system. But I wouldn't be surprised if the illumination systems used are unsophisticated.

In any event, stopping for red lights before turning right will take me less time than shopping for and installing a way to defeat law enforcement.

-Steve

They dont really work in Cary (the cover things). They can still read your plate in the videos and the pictures. What does tend to work are the really old, paint missing plates. Sometimes it obscures the letters and numbers well enough that if the judge cant 100% be sure what the plate is, it gets thrown out.

[kellyc]

True, however, such a device should not be used to break the law, only as a self-defense means by which people can protect themselves against this fund raising scheme.

Who is raising funds here? The town of Cary doesnt get a dime from the red light cameras. Any procceeds that should go to the town go to the Wake County School System

[johnb]

Then we can just handle it legitimately and asess a tax increase to deal with it can't we?

Besides, since these self-defense products don't work, why sweat them ? :)

[kellyc]

Then we can just handle it legitimately and asess a tax increase to deal with it can't we?

Besides, since these self-defense products don't work, why sweat them ? :)

Okay tax increase for what? I dont have a problem with the covers, I just think they look stupid. And in all honesty it always work out. If a person keeps running red lights eventually they are gonna be in an accident, and eventually it will come back to asses them. One way or another...its gonna get ya!

Kelly

[SteveG]

WRAL did a story on the ROR problem recorded by Cary's cameras:

http://www.wral.com/traffic/3556410/detail.html

The article describes one instance where a ROR roll-through driver caught on video almost hits a girl in the crosswalk.

I also found that NC recently outlawed any cover or treatment that renders a license plate less visible to photo enforcement.

Note that one of the reasons the police prefer photo enforcement of red light running is that there is rarely an appropriate place to park a police vehicle for watching a busy intersection in urban/suburban locations, and pulling out from a surveillance location at an intersection fast enough to chase down the offenders can create its own safety problems.

-Steve

[hollyL]

I also found that NC recently outlawed any cover or treatment that renders a license plate less visible to photo enforcement.
-Steve

After seeing the thread I looked in the GS and couldn't find anything about the covers being illegal. Just curious where you saw this?

Thanks
Holly

[SteveG]

I also found that NC recently outlawed any cover or treatment that renders a license plate less visible to photo enforcement.
-Steve

After seeing the thread I looked in the GS and couldn't find anything about the covers being illegal. Just curious where you saw this?

Thanks
Holly

The AP story ran in several places when the House approved the Senate Version and it was headed to Easley for his signature. There's no reason he wouldn't sign it; I'm not sure when this did or will go into effect.

I got lost on the NCGA web site trying to find this bill.

http://www.news14charlotte.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=67365


Bill outlaws license plate concealers
6/29/2004 9:30 AM
By: Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C. - Motorists who attempt to conceal their license plate number from a red-light camera by intentionally covering the plate would be breaking the law in a bill given final legislative approval Monday.

The House voted 103-11 to approve the Senate version of the measure, which clarifies that it's unlawful to willfully conceal the license plate numbers.

The bill now goes to Gov. Mike Easley for his signature.
Some products can be purchased, including plastic covers and even sprays, to conceal a license plate number or make it unreadable when a camera flashes at a stop light.

The motorist would be guilty of a traffic infraction if the person intentionally covers any part of the license plate so that a traffic camera can't take a clear picture. An infraction is punishable up to $100.

The bill now goes to Gov. Mike Easley for his signature to turn it into law.[/quote]

[johnb]

Next I suspect they'll crimminalize videotaping a cop on duty in confrontations with civilians.

Nice.

I wonder if that is one of those laws Cary won't bother to enforce? But it'll be almost impossible for them to enforce it anyway and the fine is so low it ranks up there with the old double nickle speed limit back in the day.

[kellyc]

I cant imagine them being out on the road looking for them. However since they are illegal, technically it does give them a reason to pull someone over....so having one of those would not be in your best intrest if you are drinking and driving or have some weed in your car.


As for the video taping, they dont seem to have a problem with it.

Kelly

[SteveG]

I cant imagine them being out on the road looking for them. However since they are illegal, technically it does give them a reason to pull someone over....so having one of those would not be in your best intrest if you are drinking and driving or have some weed in your car.

As for the video taping, they dont seem to have a problem with it.
Kelly

I imagine they will be treated the same way as too-dark window tinting. It will get caught when drivers are pulled for something else, or will cause a vehicle to fail inspection.

A decade ago I bought a used car that had too-dark film tinting on the windows. I removed the film from all the windows with a scraper, with the exception of the rear window due to the defogger. When I got the car inspected, the garage refused to pass it because their opacity meter read the rear windshield as being too dark. I had to scrape it off the rear windshield and destroy my rear defogger to pass inspection.

Cary Police seem pretty intent on videotaping just about everything they do. The law enforcement community is doing a lot more nonlinear digital recording from their vehicles, which often includes pre-incident recordings. Sometimes these recordings exonerate an accused officer of wrongdoing; other times they are used against an officer. In any event, the truth comes out.

-Steve

[hollyL]

The AP story ran in several places when the House approved the Senate Version and it was headed to Easley for his signature. There's no reason he wouldn't sign it; I'm not sure when this did or will go into effect.
...

The bill now goes to Gov. Mike Easley for his signature to turn it into law.

Thanks Steve for the information!

-Holly

[hollyL]

Here's the bill info:

HOUSE BILL 26

http://www.ncleg.net/html2003/bills/currentversion/ratified/house/hbil0026.full.html

Signed By Gov. 7/8/2004
http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2003&BillID=H26

[Brent]

So, this is slightly off-topic, but not entirely.

In my high school drivers education class, we had to do a project. My project was to do a survey of drivers at the 4-way stop in the middle of the tiny little village where I lived. For 6 hours, I sat on the corner and recorded every car that came to the 4-way stop and noted whether or not they actually came to a full stop, as opposed to what my drivers education teacher called a "Hollywood stop" -- slow down, but roll through the stop sign.

Fewer than 20% of the drivers actually made a full stop. One driver nearly had a collision with another car, because he never really intended to stop, instead planning to go right through the stop sign at about 45 MPH, but had to slam on his brakes to avoid another car that had stopped and was proceeding through the intersection. That driver was a recent graduate of my school's drivers education class.

My anecdotal observation is that things have only gotten much worse in the intervening years. I no longer immediately go through a light that has just turned green because of the increasing frequency of people running red lights in the other direction.

[Wuptdo]

I have noticed recently several "poles" about 50' high around some of the major intersections in Cary (recently installed). One was on Cary Parkway and Evans and I have seen a few more. At first I thought they were flagpoles, but not sure. Are they for the "stoplight cameras?"

Wuptdo B-)

[hollyL]

Here is the most current list I know of...

http://www.townofcary.org/depts/dsdept/redsignal/overview.htm

[Brent]

They also apparently are installing additional cameras in some spots for the purposes of traffic control (not just red light violations). The guy watching the traffic on TV can adjust signal timings.