5,770 drivers seeing red

LEAGUE CITY — In the past three weeks, cameras snapped photographs of 5,770 motorists running red lights in League City, mostly in the right-turn lanes at Interstate 45 and FM 518.

Sixty percent of the red light runners — 3,643 — were captured turning right from the southbound feeder road onto FM 518.

Among those, 232 violations were tossed out because Redflex Traffic Systems officials reviewing the photographs and video determined motorists made a safe turn at the red light.

The cameras at that intersection have been startling drivers accustomed to yielding — but not stopping — in the right turn lanes at Interstate 45 and FM 518. The two right-turn lanes are separated by a median and controlled by a stop light. Motorists always have treated the lanes like a yield sign — they pause long enough to make sure it’s safe to turn right and then they turn, regardless of whether the light is red. Those days are over.

Drivers who don’t come to a full stop at the thick white line before they turn right will be caught by the cameras and issued tickets.

Motorists caught running red lights won’t be issued tickets until the grace period ends at 11:59 p.m. Friday. After that, drivers who run red lights will be fined $75, but the citations don’t count against motorists’ driving records.

So far, cameras have been busiest at Interstate 45 and FM 518, which had the highest rate of red light runners before the cameras went up. According to the Arizona-based Redflex Traffic Systems:

• Four cameras captured 5,071 red light violations at Interstate 45 and FM 518. Of those, 553 were tossed out because of “uncontrollable factors,” such as the inability to read a license plate.

• Two cameras caught 596 red light runners at FM 518 and state Highway 3. Forty were dismissed.

• Two cameras captured 103 violations at FM 2094 and FM 518. Three were dismissed. Those cameras have been active since Oct. 15, Kristi Wyatt, city spokeswoman, said.

Each violation is reviewed by company officials and by police officers who oversee the program.

Of the 5,770 violations recorded, 3,134 still are under review, Wyatt, said. However, had League City been issuing tickets in the past three weeks, the city would have earned $153,000 off the 2,040 violations the company and the city deemed legitimate. The city must use any revenue it earns from red light camera violations to pay for the cameras and administer the program. After that, whatever money is left is divided between the city and the state. The state puts the money in an account to pay for rural ambulance services and other hospital services; the city can use the money only to pay for traffic safety programs, Lt. Greg Flowers said.

The city is working with the Texas Department of Transportation to install signs near the turn lanes, warning motorists that they must come to a complete stop before turning right, Flowers said.

Flowers said he wasn’t surprised about the seemingly high number of red light violations in the city in the past three weeks. Based on the camera images, some violators ran the same red lights three, four and five times in the past few weeks, he said. At least one motorist ran the red light seven seconds after the light turned red, and at least two Clear Creek school district buses failed to fully stop before turning right at the red light at Interstate 45 and FM 518, Flowers said.