Whoa! What’s wrong with this picture? Traffic citations are down over the past six years after Auburn deployed the “red-light running” cameras.

Hello. That indicates the system is working, and yet the City Council has decided to discontinue the program. Of course, as a result of this success, citation revenue is down, but revenue was not the reason we deployed the cameras. Right?

The total number of accidents has not significantly decreased over this period. The FHWA (Federal Highway Administration) states this is typical. But percentage wise, the types of accidents tend to significantly change from the more deadly side or (T-bone) accidents to the less serious rear-end type.

FHWA analyses establish that this trade-off is beneficial in reducing injury and cost, as realized in reduced hospital bills, property damage to vehicles, insurance expenses, value of lost quality of life, etc. Statistically, their study reveals red-light cameras indirectly save society $39,000 to $50,000 per intersection annually. This assumes, of course, that the cameras were deployed correctly at carefully chosen locations where historical traffic problems have been a major concern.

Kudos to Councilmember Bill Peloza and the two other councilmembers who voted to continue this program.

If at all possible, we should continue this program. Our traffic continues to worsen yearly, and our lives and safety are worth the cost of supplementing the citation revenue.

– Don Jensen