Red Light Cameras 'Doing Their Job'

Gulfport Police Chief Robert Vincent says the red light cameras are "doing their job."

 "In our case, the results are positive," the chief noted, citing data that was presented to the City Council Tuesday night.

Vincent presented an analysis of the intersection safety cameras, with data from April through October. Judging by the numbers, the chief says the program is a success.

Total Crashes

• April - October 2010 = 95
• April - October 2011 = 70

Decrease of 26.3%

Injury Crashes

• April - October 2010 = 30
• April - October 2011 = 16

Decrease of 46.7%

Vincent is extremely happy with these results, saying that safety is the top priority. "That was the big thing."

Violations

Vincent says more than 3,000 citations have been issued between March and October, with just 349 of those to registered vehicle owners living in Gulfport.

Vincent also says that most of the violations are from drivers who have gone through an intersection, as opposed to making a right or left turn.

"A lot of people are under the impression that we are just out to collect money from people who are making slow right turns. The vast majority of these are straight through, not right turns."

Money

The violation is a $158 fine and is mailed to the registered owner of the vehicle.

"A lot of people want to know what we're making off of this. They think it's a big money-making operation; as you can see so far, the grand total of what we've made is $41,000 roughly."

Between March and October, the department made $41,884. For complete information, check out the Financial Summary pdf attached to this article.

Vincent concluded his presentation by explaining that the program is reducing crashes, and revenue from fines is covering the cost of the resources required to operate the program.

Locations of Red Light Cameras

The intersection safety cameras were placed at the following intersections in February:

• West Bound on Gulfport Blvd. S. & 58th St S.
• South Bound on 49th St. & 15th Ave S.
• East Bound on Gulfport Blvd. S. & 49th St. S.

According to the department's analysis, the total number of traffic crashes and injury crashes have gone down.

More Information

The Gulfport Police Department has a "Red Light Cameras FAQ" section on their website.

Check out Chief Robert Vincent's Blog: Red Light Camera Update. Posted today.

For more information on how the cameras and systems work, check out the step-by-step video released from ATS. Click on this link to watch the video.