Fort Worth will be getting an additional 10 red light cameras this fall, adding to the current set of 17 around town.
Red light cameras are credited with a decrease in the number of t-bone and certain other types of collisions, but they have resulted in an increased number of rear-end collisions because because of drivers stopping quickly to avoid going through a stale yellow.
Red light violations are the cause of a large percentage of our cases. If you have been injured by a driver running a red light or if you’ve been rear-ended by a driver hoping to make it through a light you stopped at, please call our office at 817-885-8000 to discuss your case.
Full article from the Star-Telegram is available below.
FORT WORTH — Keep a foot over the brake pedal, Fort Worth. More red-light cameras are coming to an intersection near you.
Fort Worth has 25 cameras at 17 intersections and plans to install 10 more at six intersections in the fall, Transportation Director Bill Verkest said Tuesday. The city has also hired a collection agent to go after the 44 percent of violators who haven’t paid their tickets.
The cameras have resulted in about $1.2 million in fines since their use began in 2008. But $765,000 went for expenses (including payments to ATS, the contractor and court costs), $221,000 went to the state and $221,000 went to the city. About $950,000 in fines has not been collected.
“We’re not making a tremendous amount of money,” Verkest said.
And, no, Verkest told the City Council, the city hasn’t shortened the yellow-light times to catch more drivers.
Councilman Carter Burdette, who has been a proponent of red-light cameras, dismissed as “urban myths” the ideas that the city was tinkering with the light timing to bring in more.
“I suspect a lot of the people who fostered those urban myths may have been caught by red-light cameras,” he said.
Fort Worth officials have said the main purpose of the cameras is to reduce accidents caused by drivers who run red lights. So far, accidents are down 19 percent at the targeted intersections. Rear-end collisions increased slightly, but more dangerous types of collisions decreased, such as T-bone collisions.
The city has averaged more than 4,000 violations a month since October, when the second phase of cameras started operating. Violators face a $75 fine but can fight the citation in court.
The money that the city collects has been spent on sidewalks in school zones and loop detector sensors that help time traffic lights.