The traffic camera watching southbound vehicles on North Albany Road, photographed on Sunday, June 22, 2025.
Drivers on North Albany Road paid more than $49,000 for speeding tickets they got during May, the last full month of school days since traffic cameras at Thornton Lake Drive went live.
The cameras caught 300 violations at the intersection during the month, all but two of them for speeding. The other two were for running a red light at the signal.
The city has speed and red-light camera systems at Queen Avenue and Geary Street and in the school zone on North Albany Road. A few days ago I asked Jeanna Yeager, the city of Albany finance director, for May revenue statistics for both intersections.
Here’s the table showing the number of paid citations, the total amount drivers paid, and net revenue retained by the city. The net is what’s left after paying the $20-per-ticket share sent to Verra Mobility, the camera vendor and operator, and the fees taken by the state and the counties.
In addition to its share of paid tickets, Verra Mobility also gets $6,000 a month per intersection ($3,000 for each of the two camera systems at each intersection). So the city’s actual net revenue of the photo enforcement program for May was about $20,500, minus whatever administrative costs are assigned to the program.
The numbers for May suggest that the speeding tickets on North Albany Road resulted mostly from the cameras catching people going 31 mph or faster through the 20-mph school zone. The school limit is in effect from 7 to 5 on school days, and the cameras are set to record vehicles going at least 11 mph above the posted speed.
We’ll get a more conclusive indication of school-zone violations when the numbers for July become available. That’s the first month of the year without a single school day, and the number of tickets should go way down.
So far, the school-zone cameras have proved to be the most lucrative, by far, to the city and Verra Mobility. Two city council members have spoken in favor of installing flashing lights to remind drivers that it’s a school day and the lower speed limit is in effect, but the council has made no move to order this done.
Albany’s contract with Verra Mobility calls for installation of traffic cameras at two more intersections: one in the school zone at Queen Avenue and Elm Street, and the other at the intersection of Santiam Road and Geary Street. That may be done later this year. (hh)
I did not realize there was a fee charged by the state and the county. What is the fee for?
All school zones in an area where the regular speed is 30 mph or more should be required to have flashing amber lights. No reason for people to be slowing down to 20 mph all day long for nothing. During the time that Amber lights would be used they would garner much better compliance to the lower speed than a a sign that requires it all day long and people can see that most of the time it is not needed.
The State controls what’s in your driving record.
I’ll suggest that getting a ticket will (should!) also “garner… compliance.” If not, receiver of said ticket(s) deserve every one of them…
When the posted sign in front of NA elementary school said, “no school today”; that suckered drivers going north, to think that NAMS also did not have school. Automatic tickets were issued for speeds over 30mph. Entrapment??
The whole red light/speeding camera is a godsend for City coffers. The Driving Class in Albany is apparently rife with scofflaws – persons who believe their time is more valuable than yours, or your kiddos in school.
I urge my City Councilors to hop on board the Red Light Camera train.
Put those crime-busting devices at any and all controlled intersection. Sit back and watch the cash come in. Albany’s love of violating traffic laws is the Golden Calf staring us in the face.
It would be interesting to see the number of violations for cars coming down the hill versus going up.
It’s incredibly frustrating having to pass through this intersection everyday and regardless of school hours people drive 20-30mph. No one knows when “school hours” applies and so everyone drives below the 40mph speed limit at all hours.
If the city is going to fine drivers they should also be notifying them when the speed limit is in effect.
Seems the easiest solution would be to decrease the posted speed to 30 all the time. Then very few people would trip the camera for 11 over the school zone speed.
City is making enough money to come up with a reasonable solution. Ward 1 person could make a difference here?
If anyone thinks that fining people that risk kiddos safety is a solution is not using common sense. So lil kiddos get treated like lil ducks crossing the road and who ever survives is lucky but the driver that misses them get a ticket! I think the city needs a sign that warns people we have “slow adults” running the city lol.
Wish we had a couple on First A⁹venue!
I’m curious why the net revenue percentage kept by the city is so much lower for the speed limit violations compared to the red light violations.
Red Light violation is a higher fine than minimal speed violations.
It triggers at 11 over, but I wonder what the speeds were?
Easy solution to show both schools in session would be to leave the flag up on street side school if either were open.
It’s completely unreasonable for the city to enforce two different speed limits when the general public has no way to know when school is or is not in session. I’ve always simply looked in the parking lot of North Albany Elementary, and if there are no cars, I drive 40 MPH. On April 18th, that strategy cost me $220 (after appearing in court and getting a $45 reduction) because the middle school was in session. I sincerely hope the city installs flashing lights. They can certainly afford to do this with all of the money that is being pocketed.