Redwood City can better prevent intersection collisions through a combination of education, enforcement and message boards, the police chief told the City Council after the expiration of the city’s red light camera contract.
“We are very confident that the combined strategies outlined here this evening will allow us to provide a better level of traffic safety,” Chief JR Gamez said at Monday night’s meeting.
Gamez’s approach includes educating the public, collecting community input and enforcing laws of the road. Software that looks at historical data and county traffic program information helps the city decide where to deploy officers and message boards and speed trailers also inform motorists of exactly how fast they are traveling, Gamez said.
The software is estimated to cost $8,500 and the speed trailers run between $10,000 and $22,000 each.
Councilman Ian Bain called the software purchase “a no-brainer.”
The trailers shape behavior by creating two voluntary periods of education and compliance with a period of enforcement in the middle, Gamez said.
The potential for change jumps roughly 66 percent using this mixed approach as opposed to just a single enforcement period, he said.
The council was not asked to make any decisions on Gamez’s plan or the purchases but did support his decision to, as Councilwoman Barbara Pierce summed it up, “try new things.”
The city ended its 60-month contract with Redflex Traffic Systems in March. The use was aimed at capturing violations at the intersections of Whipple Avenue and Veterans Boulevard.
The area had 12 red light-related crashes between 2003 and 2009 but Gamez said those dropped to three after the cameras were installed.
The new approach mixing technical and traditional enforcement includes correlating information from traffic collision reports, citations and arrests for driving while under the influence. The software helps identify the problem areas rather than rely on across-the-board camera use to monitor unsafe activity.
The police department also hired an officer who worked collaboratively with a Santa Clara University professor on a collision data analysis program for future development of a model that can predict enforcement.
Although the red light camera contract is done, the city will continue paying two part-time employees until the end of the current fiscal year to process the backlog of violations.
The camera equipment will also remain in place in case the City Council changes its mind about using it in the future.
At the end of the discussion, Mayor Jeff Ira reiterated the reason behind the red light camera use.
“So many people think it’s about revenue enhancement and it’s really not,” Ira said. “It’s about safety.”
(650) 344-5200 ext. 102
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Dirk van Ulden said:
CA Is Burning said:
I think this is the first time ever in which the democrats protested / marched without violence. Maybe the sheep are learning.
CA Is Burning said:
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