BALCONES HEIGHTS-- Nothing gets Texas drivers riled up like a red-light camera. And Balcones Heights nestled in central San Antonio-- is home to 12.
If you don t run the red light, there s nothing to fear from a red-light camera, said Lorenzo Nastasi, Balcones Heights Director of Community Initiatives.
Nastasi said red-light cameras are billed as a cheap-but-effective way to make intersections safer, while saving on the expense of police manpower.
We have unique situation with our red-light cameras, in that we have such heavy, pedestrian traffic as well as vehicular traffic, said Nastasi, referring in part to Fredericksburg Road, where 26,000 cars travel daily.
Those humans and cars mix quite a lot, in less than a square mile that is the City of Balcones Heights, which embraced the cameras in 2007.
Officer Reine Scheer watches a black sedan from a computer screen, as it makes a right turn on a red light, without ever stopping. Police have access to a video of the infraction, clearly showing how the law is broken.
With the computer mouse, Scheer clicks through about 500 runners a week.
The citation the driver receives in the mail shows a vehicle and the license plate, and a $75 dollar fine.
Balcones Heights officials say contrary to popular belief, the cameras aren t cash-cows for the city.
The $75 fine is split up: the first $45 dollars goes to pay American Traffic Solutions to run the cameras, as well as the salaries for the two Balcones Heights officers who implement the program.
The remaining $30 is split in half: $15 dollars to the state (for local trauma centers) and $15 dollars to Balcones Height s Traffic Safety Fund.
The citation is a civil one attorneys say that means the ticket won t count against your driving record.
Texas transportation laws dictate that a violator cannot have an arrest warrant issued if he fails to pay the red light camera ticket.
And should you fail to pay the fine, camera operators aren t allowed to inform credit bureaus of your delinquent bill.
Justin Coquat is an attorney who specializes in traffic tickets.
Motorists have a Constitutional right to face their accuser for traffic violations. And since you can t face-off in court against a camera, that s why red light cameras are so controversial, Coquat said.
The cameras can be found in 26 states in the U.S and locally, in Austin and Balcones Heights.
Eight states have laws that make red-light cameras illegal: Arkansas, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire and West Virginia.
The Federal Highway Administration did a study of over 130-intersections with the cameras across the country and found that they do, in fact, reduce the number of T-Bone crashes at intersections those are the dangerous ones, with the most significant damage to passengers and cars.
But the same study found a similar increase in rear-end collisions.
Accident data from the Texas Department of Transportation shows there have been steep declines in traffic accidents in Balcones Heights since the cameras went online: from a high of 218 accidents in 2006 before the cameras were installed, down to 123 in 2012. That s a 44 percent decline in crashes.
You figure the officer s time on the street, EMS, Fire Department, hospital, body work on people and cars-- that s a considerable savings, said Scheer.
But at the same time, the I-Team discovered the number of drivers running red-lights has increased in Balcones Heights:
Cameras nabbed 8,500 motorists in 2007, but nearly 26,000 in 2013. That s an increase of 204 percent.
Balcones Heights says that may be an indication the streets are getting busier.
Some motorists wonder if the cameras aren t just making matters worse at the intersections.
Balcones Heights takes the money it collects in its Traffic Safety Fund and uses it to pay for traffic safety improvements, like sidewalks, street lights, even police dash cams.
This year, city officials bought a police cruiser.
