One of Albany’s old traffic cameras at Queen and Geary, shown last December.
It was in December 2023 that the Albany City Council voted to equip four intersections with cameras to catch speeders and red-light runners. The cameras may soon be installed, and then we’ll see if they yield the anticipated result.
“We anticipate an increase from 1,500 tickets/year currently (at the one location that just does red light enforcement), to 17,000/year until driver behavior changes,” City Manager Peter Troedsson told the council in his weekly report Friday.
Really?
In its required biennial photo enforcement report to the legislature in February 2023, the Albany police said the cameras at Queen and Geary had yielded a 10-year average of 496 citations a year from 2013 through 2022.
In 2022, citations dropped to 274. “Citation rate seems to have hit its plateau,” the report said.
It’s not clear how adding speed cameras at signalized intersections can yield a lot of tickets. Half the traffic is just sitting there waiting for the light to change. When drivers are not waiting, they are usually slowing down or getting back up to speed.
There’s the occasional driver who speeds up to beat the amber light turning red. But even then it’s not usually racing speed, according to my experience of 47 years in Albany traffic.
So if Queen/Geary catches an average of 500 red-light runners a year, and speeders add another 500, that makes 1,000 tickets. The other three locations are not as busy as Queen/Geary, but suppose they too generate 1,000 tickets a year.
That brings us to around 4,000, not the 17,000 tickets the city expects “until driver behavior changes.”
How is the project coming along anway? In an email Tuesday, Police Chief Marcia Harnden said:
“The final logistics between the company and the City of Albany are nearing completion. This work covers what tickets will be written, where they will go and how the data transfers work. Then the project moves to the engineers to work on the installation. We don’t have a firm ‘go-live’ date as of yet. Once we get close, we will do a lot of public education. There are no charges yet to the city. That doesn’t happen until tickets are being issued. We have hired a new court clerk to absorb the incoming workload increase.”
In case you forgot, the locations where photo enforcement will be installed or enhanced:
Queen/Geary (existing camera upgrade to speed and redlight). That’s the approaches from the north and west.
North Albany Road at Thornton Lake Drive (north and south approaches for speed and redlight). This is in a school zone.
Queen at Elm (east and west approaches for speed and redlight). This is the school zone on Queen for West Albany High and Memorial Middle schools.
Santiam at Geary (east and west approaches for speed and redlight), where Harnden says there have been speed-related issues.
The plan is to activate the new cameras first at Queen/Geary and North Albany Road, then evaluate the resulting workload before activating the other two sets.
Will any of this reduce crashes? Maybe, but according to Albany’s 2023 report to the legislature, the cameras at Queen/Geary have had “no significant impact: 0, 1, 2, or 3 collisions each year for disregarding Red-Amber-Green from 2003 to 2021.”
But we’ll see how Albany’s new system works out. (hh)
Signs like this one in Medford may soon appear in Albany as well.
Shouldn’t the long term purpose of the traffic cameras be to deter traffic violations and increase safety? Not to produce more tickets and income for the city. It seems like the Queen/Geary cameras are doing their job if the amount of tickets has decreased and stabilized.
Come on! Cameras that generate traffic tickets at about $240 a pop are to bring in revenue to the city. After the 22.5 to 25 million spent on the waterfront, they are out of dough, literally. (Yes, Ray, I know CARA is a different pot of money….that response doesn’t fly with us citizens anymore, so you might as well try another argument!)
Which Ray are ytou talking about Ray K or Ray H or Ray T? Mr Coffee, Why not run for City Council. Then you could speak for US?
Anything to make a buck. And if the limit is 35 and you’re doing 36, is there a ticket?
No. The chief has told me that tickets won’t result at 10 mph or less above the posted limit.
Thank you.
Do you believe the chief? I don’t believe the chief. Who believe the chief?
Who believes this gross over reach?
And we should give any credence whatsoever to folks who hide behind their anonymity? Laughable to be sure!
It is frightening and maddening to see so many red light runners! If nothing else I so hope the new cameras catch more of those people.
Isn’t it a fact that the cameras at Queen & Geary have greatly reduced vehicle accidents there?
No, not according to the police.
Red light cameras are ok in school zones. Speed cameras are an issue because the speed limit varies from day to day, and from hour to hour.
I don’t think that the company will know what days are school days and which days are not.
Is the individual insulting anonymous users here the same Ray Kopczynski that is a city council member? If so, is this the attitude councilors are expected to adopt when communicating with the public?
Maybe all comments should be anonymous, so that some people can’t impersonate civic leaders. Or so those leaders won’t make our city look bad when they frequent a blog to… insult anonymous users?
Thank you, thank you!…for your comments. Yes, it is the same Ray K. who is on the City Council. In defense of anonymity, in today’s world it is often necessary, because today’s world is often violent. Ray can’t get that in his thick head, apparently. Or, he knows that and just wants everyone’s name so that he can more easily verbally attack us and expose us to possible danger. Ray is completely out of step with the times.
Or just out of touch.
If the purpose of these cameras is to prevent accidents from red light runners the current figures don’t support this claim. If the purpose is to slow down drivers in school zones I’d be interested in seeing documentation that they are effective. If the purpose is to bring in more income to the city I’m having trouble making the math work on these cameras. The estimate on the number of tickets the city feels will be generated seems way off based on current numbers available for the existing cameras, not all of the tickets will be collected on and the city only gets a small amount of money on each ticket, installation costs, staff costs (legal, engineering, etc), additional hiring of a clerk…. I just don’t see how this will bring any revenue into the city. I can’t help but feel that the taxpayers will be paying for a program that is not effective in any capacity.
Mr Coffee. Why have you not run for the City Council? You seem to be very critical of Ray K. Maybe you should run. What would you do to fix the streets? Past councils have pushed the repairs further down the line. Now it is time the council make the hard decision. Do you want a gas tax? ( it was voted down) Do you want a Utility fee? Let me know WHAT WOULD U RECOMMEND?