TRAFFIC: Shelton could use some of those cameras, too

Similar stories:

• 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.

• 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.

• 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 voters put brakes on red-light cameras

  Bellingham voters put brakes on red-light cameras

  BELLINGHAM - Voters sent City Hall a strong message: Don't install traffic-enforcement cameras without a vote of the people, and limit the fines issued under any camera program.

  Voters citywide were supporting the Bellingham initiative restricting the red-light cameras and school-zone speed cameras, with 65 percent in favor and 35 percent opposed, according to early election results released Tuesday night, Nov. 8, by the county Auditor's Office.

  "This is what happened around the state and, really, around the country whenever people have had an opportunity to vote on this," said Randy Elmore, a member of Transportation Safety Coalition, which backed the initiative. "People have an intuitive sense about being surveilled by their government, and people can see through the smokescreen: This is a cash machine for a red-light (camera) company and a city."

• 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.