Senator not happy with traffic camera fines

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• Red-light cameras questioned

  Red-light cameras questioned

  WASHINGTON – One out of every five Americans lives in a community that pays a for-profit company to install and operate cameras that record traffic violations. A pro-consumer group says that practice could end up putting profit ahead of safety and accuracy.

• Study questions outsourcing of traffic camera systems

  Study questions outsourcing of traffic camera systems

  WASHINGTON — One out of every five Americans lives in a community that pays a for-profit company to install and operate cameras that record traffic violations. A pro-consumer group says that practice could end up putting profits ahead of safety and accuracy.

  Some contracts require cities to share revenue with camera vendors on a per-ticket basis or through other formulas as a percentage of revenue. Suffolk County, N.Y., for example, diverts half of the revenue from its red-light camera program to its vendor, according to the report being released Thursday by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.

  Another type of agreement — conditional "cost-neutral" contracts — also contain provisions that link payments to the number of tickets issued, although the payments are capped, the report said. Under these contracts, local governments pay a monthly fee to a camera vendor. If ticket revenues fail to cover the vendor's fee in any given month, cities may delay payments. That gives vendors "an incentive to ensure

• Bellingham council, candidates weigh importance of anti-traffic camera initiative

  Bellingham council, candidates weigh importance of anti-traffic camera initiative

  BELLINGHAM - If voters approve a citywide initiative in November restricting traffic-enforcement cameras, the city legally won't have to remove any cameras.

  But City Council members and council candidates say voters would influence their decision whether to renew the contract for the cameras after a one-year pilot program. Some of them said they would heed the will of voters.

  Council members say they approved the cameras to increase safety. Opponents argue against the safety benefits, and charge that the cameras are really about raising revenue through traffic fines.

• Lacey getting less green from red lights

  Lacey getting less green from red lights

  LACEY – The City of Lacey expects to collect $100,000 less from its red-light cameras next year because fewer drivers have been cited for running the intersection at Pacific Avenue and Sleater-Kinney Road.

• Too little data to judge red-light cameras, DOT says

  Too little data to judge red-light cameras, DOT says

  The state Department of Transportation isn't yet endorsing the safety benefits of traffic-enforcement cameras. Instead, a top state engineer says there simply isn't enough data.

  The state takes a data-driven approach, and crash data lags by about six months, said Mark Leth, traffic engineer for the northwest region of the state.

  The state has primary responsibility for traffic signals on state highways that run through cities with fewer than 25,000 people. Cities of that size need state approval to install enforcement cameras along highways.