Red Light Cameras follow up

[flowerpetal]

Hello all. I received a follow-up call from Mike Quinn with SPD. This was WRT the red light camera’s which were flashing on ocassions when the light wasn’t red.

Mike was happy for the call; and I made it specific to the the cameras at 35th and Thistle. Sometimes the cameras need adjustments so it could be erroneously going off. Other things can cause a camera to shoot too. A hanging cable swaying in the wind; or tree branches.

If you and your vehicle were mistakenly caught in camera on such an ocassion; you will still not need to worry; as the picture wouldn’t meet the minimum standard. The minimum standard requires two still pictures and the back up video (which is on loop). The first picture is taken as a fast moving car approaches the intersection as the light is turning red. It shows the vehicle entering the intersection on a red light. The second picture shows the vehicle in the intersection against the red light and clearly includes the license number. And then there is the video of the car through the whole intersection. The video is available to watch for anyone with a citation.

The camera flash at 35th and Thistle is going to have a shield placed strategically on it to dampen the width of the bright flash which can be a nuisance to neighbors especially at night. The City is also going to check those cameras to determine if any adjustments need to be made.

I hope this helps to calm some of the fears that people have had about unjustifiably receiving a ticket in the mail for running a red light.

If you want Mike Quinn’s phone number, please PM me.

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[WSB]

Thanks. I called off the reporter assignment this morning after noticing over the weekend it didn’t seem to be doing this any more – watched it for a good long time on a couple occasions (co-pub also had seen what looked like an SDOT crew paying it a visit).

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[Patrick]

About a week ago there was a crew actively working on the control box around 5 in the evening. I was waiting at the arrow to turn left onto Thistle which is normally when I get my picture taken.

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[flowerpetal]

Good observation. Although your vehicle’s picture was taken it still would not meet the minimum standard for mailing out a citation. The first “still” picture would indicate that you were turning left on a green arrow; as would the 15 second video. Perhaps that is one of the adjustments that are being made; so as to not take pictures of cars turning left off of 35th onto Thistle with a green arrow.

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[Heinz57Mom]

This is good to know I was sitting in the south bound right lane last night waiting for the light to change when I saw a flash as the east/west traffic was going through the intersection. I was wondering about that and going to be most annoyed if I got a ticket while I was just sitting waiting.

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[Author]

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