Roseville's red-light cameras could be up and running by September, now that the City Council has approved a contract with a new vendor.
The council voted 4-0 last week, with Councilwoman Gina Garbolino absent, to approve the agreement with Redflex Traffic Systems Inc.
The contract calls for installing cameras at as many as 15 intersections, but police officials plan to phase in the new system, beginning with four intersections.
Roseville will pay a fixed fee of $6,000 a month per intersection approach monitored. Under the contract's cost neutrality clause, however, Redflex cannot charge more for its services than the city collects in fines for photographed red-light violations.
All red-light photos will be reviewed by a police officer to determine whether to issue a citation. The fine for running a red light will be $380, police Lt. Mike Doane said.
Photo red-light systems are used by nearly 350 cities nationwide, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a nonprofit dedicated to reducing deaths, injuries and property damage from highway crashes.
Locally, the city of Rocklin recently added its second red-light camera, and Citrus Heights began using cameras at two intersections along Greenback Lane in May. Both cities contract with Redflex for the equipment and monitoring.
Roseville started its first photo red-light enforcement program in 2003, but its contract with Nestor Traffic Systems Inc. ended in October.
Dee Dee Gunther, a spokeswoman for Roseville Police Department, said at the time that the poor quality of the photos prevented authorities from identifying drivers who ran red lights.
However, during the period that Nestor's cameras were operating at four city intersections, Roseville Police Lt. Mike Allison said collisions caused by red-light runners decreased by about 31 percent at those intersections.
Injuries caused by red-light collisions also dropped by 25 percent.
Although rear-end accidents went up slightly at the intersections, injuries were fewer, Allison said.
"This will be a way of keeping our service up without increasing the number of people we need on the street," Councilman Richard Roccucci said.
"Although, obviously, the presence of a police officer in a patrol car or on a motorcycle is a good deterrent, this is using technology to try and free up officers for other intersections that aren't protected by this system."
The council and city staff emphasized that the red-light cameras are for safety and are not intended to generate revenue for the city.
"It is for safety reasons," Mayor Jim Gray said. "For those of you who drive around the city of Roseville and drive through Galleria (Boulevard) or any major intersection, you really have to be alert for the other guy running the lights."
Call The Bee's Jennifer K. Morita, (916) 773-7388. Bee staff writer Art Campos contributed to the report.
