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.: : e .e Executive Summary Photographic Red Light Enforcement Legislation Background: In previous legislative sessions, efforts were made to pass enabling legislation that would allow municipalities to utilize photographic red light enforcement. Despite hard work by legislators, cities, citizens and lobbyists, campaigns for photographic red light enforcement were not successful. The City of Richardson and other heavily populated areas in the state continue to see a rise in red light running and an unacceptable number of accidents associated with this dangerous violation. Disregard of traffic signals cause approximately 260,000 accidents annually In the United States and accounts for 22% of all motor vehicle crashes. In Texas red light and stop sign running caused 28,019 accidents in 1998, of which 191 of those were fatal. From 1992 to 1998 Texas experienced 663 deaths resulting from red light running, which ranks fourth in the nation. To beiter understand the red light running epidemic, the City of Richardson established a photographic red light enforcement test site at westbound Campbell Road and US75. Richardson found that one vehicle was running a red light every two minutes during peak periods and every five minutes on an average daily basis. Photographic Red Light Enforcement: Photographic red light enforcement has been a proven method for over forty years. Ten states have enabled cities to utilize this type of enforcement and received positive results. (Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Virginia, Washington) Red light running violations have decreased at Intersections with cameras by as much as 60% after one year. Cities have also seen a significant decrease In accidents resulting from red light violations. The City of Oxnard, California experienced a 22% decrease citywide in accidents resulting from traffic signal disregard after one year of using photographic red light enforcement, with a 40% decrease at Intersections with cameras. The photographic red light enforcement system uses sensors to determine when a vehicle enters the intersection along with sensors that interface with the traffic light to determine if a violation has occurred. The equipment then records the violation in both image and data formats. Each violation generates two photos; one at the beginning of the violation and one as the vehicle leaves the intersection. Data of the location, date, time, speed, amber time and red time are stamped on each photo. A photograph is only taken if the sensor detects a violation and the proposed legislation would require a photograph only be taken of the rear of the vehicle In order to identify the license plate. After the photographs and recorded data are reviewed by a trained police officer, a citation would be sent to the owner of the vehicle. Response to Opposition: In the 1999 Legislative Session some legislators expressed concerns about photographic red light enforcement. Below are the concerns express as well as rebuttals.