FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                INFORMATION OFFICER:

March 3, 2006                                                           Lt. Wm. Funkhouser

  (314) 442-2076

 

 

City Considers Photo Enforcement

 

The City Council is currently considering an ordinance adopting the use of red light cameras. Photo enforcement at intersections (red light cameras) has existed for as many as 15 years in many cities throughout the country. Creve Coeur has been involved in photo enforcement research since 1997. Numerous studies have shown the system to be effective in reducing the number of red light violations, collisions, and injuries.

 

Every year the State Traffic Accident Reporting System (STARS) shows Creve Coeur ranks among the top five medium to small cities in the metro area for total collisions and for injury involved collisions. Statewide, we rank between 15th and 20th annually among 320 cities for those same categories. In Creve Coeur for 2004 and 2005, 63 people were injured in collisions where one of the drivers violated a red signal. Beyond the personal suffering, insurance industry standards for Missouri suggest that the cost to the community as result of those 63 injuries was nearly $2.5 million. Additionally, during 2004 and 2005, Creve Coeur police officers issued 2068 traffic summonses for signal violations. The intersections where these accidents most often occur are the intersections where enforcement is most difficult to perform because of the heavy traffic volume. The Police Department also finds it increasingly difficult to effectively and consistently implement an enforcement strategy to deal with this problem, while at the same time continuing to provide efficient service to citizens in other areas of concern.

 

A 2001 study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety collected data from ten cities (five with automated systems, five without automated systems) and determined there to be overwhelming support for photo enforcement. The average approval rate for the ten cities was 77.8% in favor of such systems. Our city’s recent citizen survey showed that the majority of citizens were in support of photo enforcement. An ordinance authorizing the use of red light cameras will be presented to the City Council for consideration at its March 27 meeting.

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