What Does A Traffic Light Camera Look Like

News five Investigates is taking an in-depth expect at how long drivers get to clear red calorie-free camera intersections. We establish some yellow lights are timed shorter than others.

Red Light Camera

COLORADO SPRINGS — The City of Colorado Springs recently expanded its scarlet light camera program, only News 5 Investigates discovered the City may not be giving drivers a fair shake before those cameras snap a picture of your license plate.

In Apr, News 5 Investigates get-go inquired about yellow light timing with the metropolis's traffic engineer, Todd Frisbee.

City Engineer — Todd Frisbee, City of Colorado Springs

Through a spokesperson, Frisbee declined to speak with News 5. Meanwhile, another spokesperson for Mayor Suthers says he'southward too busy with other engagements to address our story.

Lesser line—whether you love them or hate them, the cherry-red light camera program in Colorado Springs is growing.

"A lot of municipalities do this to balance the city budget," Shelia Dunn with the National Motorists Association said. "They calculate how much coin they're going to be making and it's really policing for profit. I think it's wrong."

Jeremy Loew, a Colorado Springs-based chaser agrees.

"Information technology's just another way for the city to collect coin," he said.

On Apr five, News 5 Investigates received a tip that defenseless our attention. The title on the email reads, "Rigged Crimson Calorie-free Photographic camera on Woodmen Rd. at Black Wood Road."

The viewer claims the yellow calorie-free at this new red light camera intersection is shorter than other intersections with similar speed limits--and this isn't the first time nosotros've heard this concern.

While there are no state or federal laws that define an exact xanthous lite fourth dimension based on speed limit, recommendations and guidance exist.

According to a traffic report funded by the National Motorists Association Foundation, or NMAF, these are the recommendations they've published for timing of yellow lights:

25 MPH -- 3.0 Seconds
30 MPH -- iii.v Seconds
35 MPH -- iv.0 Seconds
40 MPH -- 4.five Seconds
45 MPH -- 5.0 Seconds
50 MPH -- 5.5 Seconds
55 MPH -- 6.0 Seconds

New blood-red light camera interesections:

Woodmen at Black Wood and Barnes at Tutt are the two newest locations with scarlet lite cameras.

Both have speed limits of 45 mph.

The NMAF suggests drivers have a minimum of a 5-second yellow light based on that speed limit.

The City has both yellow lights timed at four seconds, according to city data obtained under the Colorado Open up Records Act.

You may be wondering whether a 1 second departure has any real affect? We asked the NMAF that question.

"If it's but one 2nd more it makes a huge deviation," Dunn explained. "In many communities, it's even shown that when they increment the yellow lite, there doesn't need to be cameras anymore."

Dunn says increasing yellow light clearance times allows more people to safely get through an intersection. She also believes information technology may foreclose accidents.

"When yous accept a cerise light camera intersection and people know about it, they get shut to the xanthous lite and so information technology turns yellow and they make a dead terminate," she said. "Then all of a sudden there's a wreck from behind. Of course it's not the person in front that caused the wreck that's responsible, it'south the person that hit them."

Out of the 12 intersections with red lite cameras we received data on, only 5 meet NMAF recommendations.

The intersection at University and Airport even exceeds those guidelines. This location has a speed limit of 40 mph. NMAF recommends the yellow calorie-free last at least four.5 seconds. City records show drivers go five seconds to clear this intersection.

Yellow Lights — Yellow Light Timing and Speed Limits

We shared our findings with Loew. He says he's not surprised based on the traffic infrastructure he has witnessed outset-mitt.

"On the e coast and in a lot of major cities, traffic lights are timed and so when you lot go a green light, you lot continuously go green," he said. "Here, it seems like Colorado Springs has a willy nilly approach to all of its traffic rules and regulations and information technology's not surprising to me that they can't necessarily justify why they have something in place considering my gauge is they don't fifty-fifty know."

In a statement to News 5, the Urban center says it follows the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices as a reference for traffic light timing.

Red light camera sign — Cherry Light Camera Sign

That guidance states that yellow lights should range betwixt 3-half dozen seconds.

The National Motorists Association takes things a step further---referencing this mathematical formula to help generate a list of yellow lite clearance times based on specific speed limit increases.

Yellow light timing formula — Yellow Light Timing Formula (NMAF study)

On April 22, News five emailed spokesperson Vanessa Zink to talk about the timing of yellow lights with traffic engineering.

Zink forwarded our request to Max D'Onofrio, another spokesperson.

"Our Traffic Engineer Todd Frisbee unfortunately doesn't have time for an interview the next few days," D'Onofrio replied on April 25.

News v and then asked for Frisbee's earliest availability for an on-photographic camera interview.

On April 27, the city declined that interview asking.

Getting the Urban center's side for fair and balanced coverage:

Although we weren't able to get city officials to keep-photographic camera, we did observe the Metropolis has a web page dedicated to red lite cameras.

In this city video and commodity, you lot'll hear ane common word justifying red light cameras---"condom."

"Traffic rubber has always been one of the main concerns of this community," retired Police Chief Vince Niski said.

Mayor John Suthers was besides nowadays in the video.

"Public safety is the highest priority of government in my opinion," Suthers said.

However, attorneys like Loew question whether the red low-cal camera program is more about condom over revenue.

"If it was really something that was such a big safety business or safe upshot, then why did the urban center accept them out previously?"

Red Light cam intersection — Black Forest and Woodmen

Y'all may recall, red low-cal cameras are not new to Colorado Springs. They were taken out several years ago before returning prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"They were in, they were taken out and now the city is putting them back and calculation additional ones," Loew said. "To me, information technology sounds similar a revenue take hold of."

Below is a list of 12 red low-cal camera intersections disclosed to News 5 on Apr 11:

East Platte Artery and Chelton Road
Briargate Boulevard and Lexington Boulevard
North Academy Boulevard and North Carefree Circle
N University Boulevard and Dublin Boulevard
Lake Avenue and East Cheyenne Mountain
Drome Road and Southward Academy Boulevard
East Platte Avenue and Due north Union Boulevard
East Woodmen Road and Duryea Bulldoze
Austin Bluffs and North Academy
Platte and Due north Murray
Woodmen and Blackforest
Barnes and Tutt Boulevard

The City recently updated its web site to include a 13th location at Maizeland and University. This location was too non included in a recent press release from April xi, 2022. A spokesperson for CSPD says the location at Maizeland and Academy goes "live" on Thursday, May 5.

News five likewise requested xanthous light timing data for all intersections in Colorado Springs. The City did not have the data "readily bachelor" and estimated it would cost us $i,500 for the records. News 5 declined to pay that fee for public data.

Are carmine light cameras reducing accidents?

While we were able to become specific, detailed accident data at red calorie-free camera intersections upward until 2020, CSPD says there's a problem with easily compiling the aforementioned information in the years following the red calorie-free camera installation. The department was able to provide usa with basic statistics. All records released by CSPD tin be constitute here.

We too asked the City of Colorado Springs for any records it has on traffic fatalities and accidents solely related to ruby-red light photographic camera programs besides equally records showing where the revenue from red light cameras is earmarked.

The City says information technology doesn't take any records and told united states of america to contact constabulary.

"The metropolis has confirmed with Traffic Engineering, Finance, the Mayor's Office and Metropolis Council that there are no responsive records," the City responded.

According to the city's web site, acquirement from cerise lite cameras goes into the metropolis'due south general fund, not to the police department.

Every bit for the National Motorists Association Foundation, they say the Metropolis's unwillingness to answer questions nearly yellow light timing and red light camera data raises concerns.

"Anytime you can't access data from a public figure, I retrieve that's a red flag," Dunn said. "They're maxim we need it (cameras) to ameliorate rubber but is that actually the case? You don't know. That needs to exist looked into."

According to city information from Municipal Court, Colorado Springs has nerveless roughly $2 million from red light camera violations betwixt 2020-2021. That number does not include revenue waiting to be collected from unpaid tickets.

Here is the official statement we received from the City'southward Traffic Engineer via a spokesperson:

Yellowish clearance intervals managed by the City of Colorado Springs can range from 3 to 6 seconds. The Urban center uses formulas and the guidance of the Transmission of Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) to determine the length of yellow lights at intersections. The MUTCD formulas and guidance are generally based on the speed limit and the size of the intersection. The City has used this arroyo for decades and will update the xanthous clearance intervals as needed if the speed limit is changed or the intersection is rebuilt. So, point timing and yellow clearance intervals are prepare contained of whether the Urban center is because the installation of red low-cal cameras. For safety, the Urban center may extend the timing of red lights, to give more time for vehicles to clear the intersection. While traffic is supposed to come to a stop when they see a yellow light, if they can do so safely, the reality is that some drivers will accelerate in an endeavour to make information technology through the intersection. Since yellow clearance intervals are based on the speed limit, if individuals exceed the speed limit it may appear that the yellow clearance interval is shorter than anticipated.

Boosted data:

Total tickets issued in 2020: xiv,885
Total tickets unpaid in 2020: four,696

Total tickets issued in 2021: 24,659
Total tickets unpaid in 2021: 7,690

Source: Clerk of Court

According to metropolis records, a crimson light photographic camera violation is a non-moving infraction that volition result in a $75 fine, merely does not result in the assessment of points on a license.

Accept a story idea you lot'd like our investigative team to expect into? Call our tip line: 719-577-4650.