One of the new traffic cameras on Queen Avenue near Elm Street on July 23, 2025.
Albany drivers caught by photo radar in the school zone on North Albany Road paid the city almost $150,000 during the last three months of the school year just past.
The city of Albany reports receiving $149,133 for 900 speeding tickets on North Albany Road in April, May and June.
The average fine was $165. This is also the presumptive fine for going between 11 and 20 miles an hour faster than the posted speed. It suggests that almost all the North Albany Road tickets paid during those three months were for going between 31 and 40 mph in the 20 mph school zone. The regular speed limit is 40.
During the same three months, only seven paid tickets on North Albany Road were for “failure to obey a traffic control device.”
Also during the same three months, paid speeding tickets at Queen and Geary, the only other camera location at the time, totaled only 56, compared to 900 on North Albany Road.
The amount of money collected from tickets during any month does not correspond directly with the number of tickets issued that month. City Finance Director Jeanna Yeager told me:
“Please note there’s typically a lag between when a citation is issued and when it appears in court; many citations from April had court dates in May or June. These figures reflect fully paid citations in the month the payment was received, so they don’t align directly with the number of citations issued in a given month. Unfortunately, Court doesn’t currently have a reliable way to report photo enforcement citations by issue date.”
Still, the numbers suggest that the North Albany cameras are the leading revenue producer for Verra Mobility, the camera vendor, and the city because of the 20 mph difference between the school zone and the regular speed limit on that road.
This will not be a factor on Queen Avenue at Elm Street, where the new cameras went active on June 25 for a 30-day warning period before resulting in tickets. Those cameras will catch fewer “speeders.”
As Police Chief Marcia Harnden has explained, the school zone in front of Memorial and West Albany High School has been shortened, and the cameras will not enforce the 20 mph limit. Instead, they will enforce the regular 25 mph limit on Queen. This means tickets will result only for drivers going 36 mph or faster, which nobody should do on that narrow street.
Classes in the Greater Albany Public Schools resume for the youngest grades on Sept. 2, a day later for the others. Keep the date in mind if you don’t want to contribute to the camera revenue gold mine on North Albany Road. (hh)
Out of the 900 red light camera tickets handed out, how many actually went to Albany residents? And of those, how many are registered voters?
Because if a $165 surprise from Verra Mobility can shift my vote, what would 900 voter-sized fines do to a city council race?
Also — any timeline on when Albany will see its first lawsuit against Verra Mobility?
The council, police and judge most likely don’t care what the citizens want. I have watch this town be destroyed by them for more than 20-year.
Amen
Given the mawkish driving techniques most Albanians display, the simplest way to end the City’s cash crunch would be to install these cameras at every controlled intersection.
Mawkish?
Mawkish – exaggeratedly or childishly emotional.
So says Merriam Webster. So say I.
A fitting description of your comments in this website.
There’s detours around many of these that only add an extra minute or two. That’s what I do. Of course, it depends on where you’re going.
So it’s easier to waste time and gas vs. slowing down? Ya gotta love the impeccable logic there…
Maybe detour completely out of Albany. It’s that type of driver that has destroyed Albany.
I think that anyone who does more than 5mph over the posted limit in a school zone should get a ticket. And for those cry babies who whine “I don’t know what school is in session”…then just go ahead and slow down. It’s less than a minute and could save a child’s life.
A better option would be such trespass means forfeit of the offenders vehicle.
And I think it is completely absurd to have 20 mph school zone markings around high schools and that they should be totally eliminated. So there.
What are you…ten? Maybe an earlier bedtime would be beneficial.
Tim- I am WITH YOU!!!!
The camera said I made an illegal turn. The law says making a left turn on a flashing yellow is legal. When trying to explain to the judge she simply did not care. The court is as bad as the company. Go back to the stop sign. It worked great before all of the dumbbells cluttered a once great town.
Ok it’s good people are paying their tickets but how much of that money is actually being poured into helping the citizens of the city or going towards fixing the infrastructure of the roads. I know the city council can be counted in to line their pockets with that money instead of spending on the actual needs of the city and citizens because I know lot of roads that need it like 3rd street and railroad street forsure need road work done.
Who on the council is lining what pockets and how? Are you suggesting someone on council is somehow collecting traffic fine money for their own personal use? Please do elaborate.
There are some great radar detectors that will catalog these locations with GPS and remind you before the intersection. Also driving around in a ski mask will help alleviate the money grab. Create an LLC and register your vehicle in the company name. You’ll still pay the fine but it will stay off your personal driving record with a little shuck and drive.
Good Friday 2025 was 18April. There were hundreds of tickets issued that day alone.
Why? Because the sign in front of N. Albany Elementary School said “no school today.”
So the trap was set. Drivers did not know the Middle school, just up the road; was operating that day. Our City Judge would not offer drivers justice by recognizing the trap and withdraw the fine. Looks like money from drivers more important than justice.
The lack of personal responsibility shown here is crazy! Do the crime pay the fine!
What crime? A turn on a flashing yellow is legal. Maybe reduce the population and stop allowing idiots to move here. No, I did not run a red light, I made a left hand turn on a flashing yellow light. Before the light the intersection was not located there. It used to work just fine untill the project of realignment of East and West Thornton Lake took place. The city messed that up. Now they think camera tickets are the way to do things. Stop allowing growth until manpower can run the city rather that stupid people with mouths rather than brains.
“stop allowing growth”
That can & will *never* happen – and you know it…
The city should neglect the streets with the most traffic tickets. It is impossible to even go the speed limit on the streets that are mostly pot holes. They work better than speed bumps lol. No need for cameras and less streets to repair. Use the savings to fix all the streets in town where people drive safer. If the city wants to torture us they could at least use it to actually slow the rate of offenders and reward the people who do drive safer. The fear of getting falsely given tickets only harasses people it does not stop the unsafe drivers. Most reckless drivers do not care if they get tickets as it is a part of risky behavior. Just issuing tickets does not save lives. Personal accountability is recognized when confronted by others. It is like paying a late fee on a bill, annoying but no guilt attached to it. When police officers pull them over they are seen by others and in the future the officers take notice of the offenders driving. Dehumanizing crime just makes it worse. Personally, I love it when a crazy driver sees the police and stops driving stupid. They stopped an accident just waiting to happen.
Chris, I think you have a solution here, just break up the asphalt at the edge of a school zone, problem solved.
I love that you must go 20 MPH while the kids are safely in school and not near the road. But feel free to fly 45 MPH any time down Gibson Hill Road by the park where kids are playing and crossing the road. Perfect logic.
Traffic cameras are just lazy, soulless collection plates for a city that does little or nothing for infrastructure upkeep. The roads in old Albany between Pine and Lyon streets are abysmal. I’ve not lived in Albany since the 70’s but driving around the old neighborhoods was like taking a jeep out 4 wheeling.
It’s ridiculous. I’m from Salem and in Salem we have flashing lights when the 20 mph is in effect! I went through it at 4:40 p.m. I didn’t even know that I was in a School zone! I have never seen a school zone that is from 7:00 – 5:00 Pm . Now I know that I should have seen the sign, but I didn’t! I think they don’t put a flashing yellow light on is so they can make more money on tickets. Come on Albany!!
Everybody who lives in North Albany and all those who have been ticketed should drive 20 MPH all the time. When you do this just smile for the camera. You can never know for sure if somethings going at one of the schools. What do they expect? Will they issue tickets for going to slow?
What are the revenue expectations as people learn to avoid getting tickets at these specific intersections? How many police labor hours has this automation saved? How was it reallocated? How do camera intersection safety statistics compare to similar volume intersections in Albany without cameras? What metrics or objectives are they using to judge this program’s success? Have they ever discussed why they chose a service provider who is facing multiple lawsuits, including overcharging for services? Who is ensuring this won’t happen to Albany?
All good questions.,….thank you.
Great questions! Answers are here:
https://albanyoregon.gov/police/safety/camera-faq
Mr. Kellum, The state uses transverse, centerline and shoulder rumble strips for inattentive drivers. They do cause issues for cyclists etc. The city is making dramatic changes to problems that flashing lights would have addressed and police presence would help curb traffic violations at intersections. The cameras will cause as much grief as the potholes do. Albany needs more constructive solutions rather than conflictive solutions for a positive change.
There are a number of comments made in past blogs which surprise me but either that is what people really feel, or they haven’t got the whole story. This is how it went for me.
On Good Friday (April 18) I was approaching the NA school zone going up towards Gibson hill.
I was approaching the school zone 20mph sign so I immediately slowed to 20mph. There were no children, no buses and no cars at NA elementary. In addition, the school reader board said, “No school on April 17-18, or something of that sort”. I immediately concluded (as many people would have) that there was no school. At that point I increased my speed to 32mph. Within a few weeks I received a speeding citation for speeding in a school zone because “NA middle school was in session”. NA middle school is down an adjacent road (400 yds) behind NA elementary, so it is difficult to know if they are in session. I felt this citation was just wrong and decided to request a trial by Judge. About a month later I went to trial. I stated my case and the judge said I made a good defense, but she said I was guilty and would need to pay a fine. I asked how many citations were issued on Good Friday and the previous day and she said hundreds of citations were issued. I haven’t actually found out the exact number of citations that were given (no one seems to know). The Judge did however reduce my fine by $15.00. Note: It was my first speeding ticket in the 55+ years that I have been driving.
Bottom Line: One doesn’t know if school (or whether one or both schools) is actually in session no matter what day it is. “I” believe that the City Council should approve a flashing amber light sign which informs the drivers when either of the schools are in session.
Albany Police Chief Marcia Harnden told me that the cameras in the school speed zone on North Albany Road recorded 108 violations on April 17 and 193 the next day, April 18, when Mr. Sutherlin got his ticket for going 32 mph after seeing the sign at North Albany Elementary and driving north. I don’t know exactly what the sign said. But according to the school calendar online, the entry for April 17 included “No school, Conferences all day,” and on April 18 the calendar said “No school, All day.”
The Council evidently needs a wake up call, maybe a class action lawsuit against the City and individual Councilors, start at 25 million dollars for the City and a million against each Councilor until they drop all the aberrant charges. They wanted money, they allowed a flawed system to charge people without taking into account the fact that there was a “no school” sign. See how long it takes for the City to change it’s policy.
Thank you Hasso for providing the number of offenders on April 17-18 (When No school on April 17-18 was shown on the school banner). I asked the Enforcement Officer when I was in court, and she said she didn’t know. It was the Judge that told me hundreds. Something else that I found out in court was that multiple citations were issued to the same people on April 17-18. Due to the circumstances, “They” had decided to issue only 1 citation to each person that violated the speed zone. One example given was that one person had exceeded the speed limit 6 times during that time period but only 1 citation was actually issued. The 108 and 193 citations may have been after the additional citations were removed.