Push to pull plug on red light cameras

LEAGUE CITY — Byron Schirmbeck said he wants to pull the plug on League City’s three red light cameras. Schirmbeck said the cameras are not reducing the types of accidents red light cameras are purported to reduce.

The city’s police department said accidents decreased by a little more than 8 percent in the second year of having cameras at three intersections in the city. The department also issued almost 9 percent fewer citations in the second year, according to the department’s information.

But Schirmbeck, who fought to bring down the red light cameras in Baytown, said the numbers are misleading. Accidents due to a driver running a red light have gone up when compared to the number of accidents at intersections before cameras were installed, he said.

Schirmbeck said he compared the number of accidents recorded in 18 months before the cameras were installed to the accidents reported during about nine months in 2009 and 2010 when the cameras were on and concluded the annual rate of accidents went up by 20 percent after the cameras were installed.

The League City police department reported 79 crashes at the three intersections with red light cameras from 2009-10. From 2010-11, the number of accidents dropped to 67.

But, Schirmbeck said, the total accidents diminished because of drivers adjusting to the cameras and resulting in fewer rear end accidents. The cameras have not decreased the number of red-light-related accidents, he said.

In the second year of the program, red-light-related crashes increased by three at the intersection of FM 518 and Interstate 45, decreased by two at FM 518 and state Highway 3 and stayed the same at FM 518 and Marina Bay Drive, according to the city’s data.

“You can’t really point to anything that says the streets are safer from red-light runners with these cameras,” Schirmbeck said.

But League City’s Safelight Program Officer Jim Bitner told The Daily News in October the cameras were doing their job of making intersections safer. He said the goal was not to give drives citations but for them to make a safe entrance into the roadway.

“This is the best awareness program in 80 years,” Bitner said. “Nothing’s ever brought so much attention to intersections.”

Nonetheless, Schirmbeck said he thinks the data did not support the cameras. Schirmbeck had 1,700 red light camera citations dismissed in 2010 when he found that the yellow light was 0.7 seconds shorter than the state minimum. The state transportation agency fixed the timing of the light in March of last year.

Now, Schirmbeck said he hopes city leaders who campaigned on getting rid of the cameras will vote the cameras down.

“We all have an obligation to make sure we hold our elected officials responsible when they sell our streets to private corporations,” Schirmbeck said.

The city pays Redflex Traffic Systems a monthly maintenance fee of $38,960 to operate the cameras and the contract runs into 2014.

Councilman Dennis OKeeffe, who campaigned against the red light cameras, said the best option now for the city is to let the contract expire and not renew it. That way, the city does not have to pay any breach of contract penalties, he said.

He might bring up an agenda item to consider not renewing the contract, OKeeffe said.

“My opinion is that red light cameras are a back door tax,” OKeeffe said.

Mayor Tim Paulissen also campaigned against the cameras but could not be reached for comment.