City Council

Agenda Cover Memorandum

Meeting Date:November 9, 2009

Item Title: Red Light Camera Update

Action Requested:

Approval

For discussion

Feedback requested

For your information

Staff Contact:Frank Kaminski, Chief of Police & Sarah Mitchell, City Engineer

Phone Number:x 261 & x5455

Email Address: &

Background:

The permit for the red light camera at Northwest Highway and Oakton is currently in IDOT’s Traffic Signal Division for review. We expect comments or approval in the upcoming weeks.

At the last Public Safety Committee of the Whole Meeting, staff was asked to obtain IDOT’s minimum criteria for consideration for red light camera installation. We have since contacted both IDOT and Red Speed, as well as researched IDOT’s guidelines. Attached is a portion of IDOT’s “General Submittal for Red Light Running Camera Enforcement Systems by Permit.” There are several conditions that must be met for IDOT to approve a red light camera submittal, but there is no specific reference to a minimum number of accidents or volume that an intersection must have. The guidelines only recommend that the submittal include crash data for the last three years, specifically left-turn, angle, and rear-end crashes.

Red Speed has also stated that they do not have specific minimum criteria for red light camera submittals to IDOT. Rather, they conduct a traffic study at a requested intersection and make a determination based on traffic counts, observation, and analysis of accident history. They are then able to make a recommendation on whether a particular intersection would be approved based on their experience with red light camera submittals and approvals.

Recent trends in red light camera installations indicate that primary consideration is given to intersections that have higher incidence of through and left-turn violations, as these movements typically cause more severe accidents than right-turn violations. More emphasis has recently been placed on reducing through and left-turn violations rather than right-turn violations. This method of determining red light camera installation best reduces accident frequency and severity, and improves the overall safety of the intersection.

Cumberland and Devon had a total of thirty-three (33) violations during the study period. Thirty (30) of the thirty-three (33) violations were right-turn violations. Since primary emphasis is placed on violations that result in more serious collisions from through and left-turn violations, Red Speed does not recommend submitting this intersection, as IDOT would likely reject the application.

However, Red Speed has stated that if the City still wishes to submit an application for Cumberland and Devon, they would prepare the justification report and submit it to IDOT.

For your information, Chief Kaminski recently learned that three bills have been introduced to ban or limit the use of automated red light enforcement systems:

SB 2477 (Sen. R. Hendon) amends stopping distance

SB 2466 (Sen. D. Duffy) Repeals & Bans use of automated red light enforcement

HB 463 (Rep. A. Saviano) Prohibits enforcement of right or left turns

Red Speed has completed its analysis of other intersections that we have asked them to examine. The top three, which have sufficient crash data for considering a red light camera, include the following:

  1. Greenwood & Oakton
  2. Greenwood & Touhy
  3. Dee & Touhy

See attached crash data. Please advise if you would like us to request Red Speed to start the next phase which is the intersection analysis.

Recommendation:

Budget Implications:

Does Action Require an Expenditure of Funds: Yes No

If Yes, Total Cost:

If Yes, is this a Budgeted Item: Yes No

Attachments:

  • Page 6 of “General Submittal for Red Light Running Camera Enforcement Systems by Permit”
  • Crash data