By Bob Fowler
The Knoxville News-Sentinel
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — Foes of red-light cameras issued warning signals Monday evening, saying City Council should think twice before forging ahead with such a system.
Opponents during a lengthy council workshop disputed statistics saying the cameras reduce accidents at busy intersections.
Knoxville Police Chief Sterling P. Owen IV said accidents at 15 busy intersections in his city have dropped sharply since red-light cameras were installed.
“It has been effective for us,” Owen said of the cameras. “We believe it is changing peoples’ driving behavior.”
Owen told council members his department couldn’t “hire enough police officers to do the enforcement these cameras provide us.”
Foes, however, cited studies they said showed that crashes - particularly rear-end crashes - have in-
creased in other cities because of the devices.
The city’s motive for considering red-light and speedmonitoring cameras at up to 10 busy intersections was also questioned by opponents.
“This is a money-maker,” said Robert E. McCoy. “We know what this is about.”
McCoy, who said his son was left confined to a wheelchair after a crash at a South Carolina intersection that had a red-light camera, suggested the city should instead just increase how long the amber light is on between light changes. “Just changing the yellow-light timing would do the trick,” he said.
“We’re small potatoes. We don’t have the traffic flow to warrant this.”
Despite the opposition, City Manager James R. O’Connor said he’s recommending that City Council enter into contract talks for such a system.
Also endorsed were fi xedspeed monitoring cameras that Police Chief David Beams said are particularly needed at the western end of the turnpike.
A proposal to enter into contract talks with Redfl ex Traffic Systems Inc. goes before City Council during its next meeting June 16.
A vote on the contract could happen at the council’s July meeting, O’Connor said.
That firm was one of fi ve vendors that responded to the city’s requests for redlight camera proposals.
Beams said he recommended Redflex - the system in use in Knoxville - because it’s “the clear leader in this technology.”
Should council approve red-light cameras, it’s expected about half of them would be placed at turnpike intersections.
Under the program, Redflex would install and operate the system. That company would reap most of the revenue from fi nes imposed on motorists nabbed on digital cameras while violating traffi c laws.
O’Connor said the city would use whatever revenue it receives to hire another police officer to review those violations.
“It’s a technology that addresses a public safety concern,” O’Connor said of the devices.
Copyright 2008 The Knoxville News-Sentinel