Guess I will have to be even more aware of my surroundings when in "The Springs" now.
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Guess I will have to be even more aware of my surroundings when in "The Springs" now.
Info obtained from the CSPD Police Blotter:
The Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD) would like to introduce a strategy focused on increasing traffic safety in Colorado Springs. City Council gave preliminary approval for an ordinance today that will allow for the use of photo enforcement in Colorado Springs. If the vote is upheld in the second reading on June 22 the CSPD will begin its partnership with American Traffic Solutions, Inc. (ATS). In an effort to keep the community informed the CSPD wants the public to know they can expect construction at intersections to begin in August and end in mid September. The issuance of red light violation warnings will begin in mid September and the issuance of citations will not begin until mid October. We expect that the construction will have little to no affect on traffic during the construction period. We will partner with ATS in an attempt to reduce the occurrence of red light violations at intersections with high vehicle crash rates. This program is designed to focus on improving safety for motorist, pedestrians and bicyclists in intersections.
Last year the City Council directed CSPD to look into the use of photo enforcement as an accident reduction strategy. We reviewed several programs offered by companies and selected ATS as they have the most comprehensive program encompassing the most state of the art technology.
Red light running is a contributing factor to property damage crashes and several injury and fatal crashes. These crashes are completely avoidable. CSPD has done a good job enforcing red light violations, but it involves having officers deployed to various intersections and they monitor the intersections until a violation occurs. In recent years, CSPD has worked to maintain effective enforcement while efficiently utilizing decreasing resources. The photo enforcement program will allow us to free up officers to serve the needs of our community while monitoring dangerous intersections and uniformly enforcing traffic laws. The photo enforcement program will be a force multiplier and will allow us to keep an eye on several intersections, but will only require one officer to review violation video footage and issue citations.
A picture of the driver and the vehicle license plate will be taken when a red light violation occurs but it also will take a twelve (12) second video of the violation; six (6) seconds before the violation occurs and six (6) seconds after the violation occurs. A CSPD officer reviews all violations. Using ATS¡¦ violation processing application, the officer will watch the video of a vehicle running the red light and will view the photos showing the light illuminated red both before and after the vehicle enters the intersection. If that officer determines the vehicle ran the red light, the officer verifies that the license plate matches the vehicle and all information is correct before issuing the citation. If the vehicle owner who receives the ticket wasn¡¦t driving the car, they will have an opportunity to dispute the ticket in court.
We submitted several intersections that had a high number of side impact crashes to ATS for review before selecting four intersections where the equipment will be installed. The four intersections selected for this program had a high number of side impact crashes and a high number of straight through red light violations. Straight through violation are usually at higher speeds and can attribute to a very significant crash that most likely will result in serious injury and even death. The four intersections selected are:
Northbound Nevada Avenue at Bijou Street
„X 52 straight violations in a 12 hour study
„X In a three year period there were 18 front to side crashes in this intersection
Eastbound Barnes Road at Oro Blanco Drive
„X 19 straight violations and 315 right turn on red violations in a 12 hour study
„X In a three year period there were 16 front to side crashes in this intersection
Westbound Platte Avenue at Murray Blvd.
„X 15 straight violations and 335 right turn on red violations in an 8 hour study
„X In a three year period there were 15 front to side crashes in this intersection
Westbound Platte Avenue at Circle Drive
„X 16 straight violations and 130 right turn on red violations in an 8 hour study
„X In a three year period there were 15 front to side crashes in this intersection
Photo enforcement is used in other Colorado cities and has proven to successfully reduce accidents where the equipment is installed. In Cherry Hills Village, CO 2007 was the last full year without photo enforcement and there were 55 total accidents in the intersection selected. In 2008 photo enforcement was in place for four months and there were 34 total accidents showing a 38% decrease. In 2009, first full year with photo enforcement, there were only 17 total accidents showing a 69% decrease from 2007.
Our goal is to reduce the number of red-light runners, thus decreasing the number of violations and their potential for crashes and injuries on our roadways. Violators will fund this intersection safety program in full and no tax dollars will be used. The city expects any revenue generated by the program to decrease as drivers improve their driving habits and compliance with the law increases.
The penalty for photo enforcement is regulated by the State of Colorado and fines are set at $75 for red light violations and $40 for speeding violations ($80 in school and construction zones) and no points will be assessed against their driver¡¦s license. This is significantly less penalizing than if a driver received the citation from an officer at the time of the violation; that fine would be $150 and four (4) points would be assessed against their driver¡¦s license at the time of conviction for a red light violation. Speeding violations issued by officers are generally $10 per mile per hour over the posted limit ($20 per mile per hour over the posted limit in school and construction zones) and the points assessed vary according to the speed involved. The intent of the program is to increase safety in our intersections and ultimately save lives. Individuals that receive a citation will have an option to pay the fine or dispute the citation in court
I have included a video montage of red light running throughout the nation. This dramatic footage illustrates danger associated with negligent driving behavior. We want motorists in Colorado Springs to be safe and stop on red.
As this program progresses, the press can expect many more news releases that will keep the community informed during every step of the process. Additionally, information on the program will be posted and updated on a photo enforcement dedicated web page at www.springsgov.com/FocusOnSafety.