San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Leon Valley cops like red light cameras
Safety program curbs crashes
LEON VALLEY — Fred Koechley left City Hall $75 poorer Tuesday after unsuccessfully challenging a citation generated by the “red light safety camera program” that went into service along Bandera Road three months ago.
“I gave my side of the story and it didn’t make any difference,” said the 67-year-old San Antonian who learned of the city’s automated traffic enforcement system only when the citation arrived in the mail.
He appealed the April 11 ticket on the grounds that the turn signal’s left arrow was red only after he’d entered the intersection, but noted, “They heard me out and didn’t agree.”
Despite feeling the financial bite of the initiative, Koechley said, “If it makes drivers be safer, I’m for it.”
City leaders say accidents have decreased on the heavily traveled thoroughfare since camera enforcement began Feb. 21 at eight intersections using American Traffic Solutions, an Arizona firm, yielding more than 13,400 citations.
“It’s going outstanding,” Police Chief Joseph Salvaggio said of the program aimed at improving public safety and freeing officers to work other kinds of cases by reducing collisions among the 60,000 or more motorists on Bandera Road daily.
“Before the cameras were installed, officers were often stuck on Bandera Road dealing with accidents,” he said Tuesday. “If you have an accident there, it takes all three officers who are on duty because of the amount of traffic.”
The city began pursuing an automated system last spring after local police logged 1,111 accidents on Bandera Road from December 2015 to February 2017.
With 93 percent of motorists involved in accidents in Leon Valley residing elsewhere, the chief said local taxpayers groused about underwriting emergency services benefiting outsiders.
That financial picture is shifting due to money generated by the camera program’s citations, but city leaders say raising revenue isn’t its objective.
The city pays ATS $4,500 a month for each of 11 camera systems it operates, with funds from citations earmarked for traffic safety enforcement.
Two new traffic enforcement officers were recently hired using the $385,000 in citation revenue banked to date, said Salvaggio, who plans to request a third enforcement officer in the new city budget that takes effect Oct. 1.
“Between these salaries and what it will cost us to lease the cameras, you will not see a positive revenue flow yet to the city,” said City Manager Kelly Kuenstler.
“Most Leon Valley residents highly favor the program because of the problems on Bandera Road,”she said. “Any complaints we have received have been about not liking the program in general, not citationrelated, and most of these are from nonresidents.”
The local program is modeled after one enacted in 2007 along Fredericksburg Road in Balcones Heights, where ATS is credited with helping curb collisions and driving infractions.
“Nationwide, ATS provides red light, speed and school bus stop arm cameras to more than 200 municipalities,” said ATS spokesman Charlie Territo.
But the cameras have proved controversial elsewhere, prompting one Texas lawmaker to propose a bill to ban all redlight cameras in Texas. The bill passed in the Senate last year despite opposition from law enforcement, but it died in the House.
Houston ended its camera program in 2011 after court battles and complaints that the cameras were an intrusive money grab.
Local resident Daniel J. Duran, 85, was successful in his appeal Tuesday of an April 9 ticket that he blamed on the short duration of a yellow light.
Appearing in the courtroom before Policeman C. Chapman, who was functioning as an administrative hearing officer, Duran pleaded financial hardship after viewing a video of his car rolling through a red light.
After confirming Duran had a valid license and no prior infractions, Chapman granted a hardship ticket dismissal but told the defendant, “You’ve got to promise me you’re going to stop.”
“Next time, I stop,” replied Duran, clutching a cane.
The videos are reviewed by an officer to verify violations before the mailing of citations, which include photos of the subject vehicle and directions on how to view the video of the alleged infractions online.
“We’re trying to be as fair and as transparent as possible,” Salvaggio said. “We want people to stop running red lights and stop having accidents. That’s our goal. It’s not about the money.”
Local officers have so far rejected 347 citations, resulting in a 97.83 percent approval rate, Kuenstler said, noting about 15 percent of violations are rejected by ATS before the company refers cases to the city.
ATS can reject cases for reasons that include no offense being seen, equipment issues that include photos being out of focus, or an inability to identify the driver due to the lack of a license plate or other issue, she said.
Leon Valley resident Ronald Hernandez, 54, said he hasn’t noticed any dramatic improvement in the often bumper-tobumper traffic along Bandera Road since the launch of the camera enforcement system that was well publicized in town.
But Hernandez admitted, “I know I pay a lot more attention while driving and it’s made me a lot more careful.”
His wife, Anna Hernandez, said motorists in the targeted intersections seem to be driving more cautiously around the cameras, whose presence is announced by signs posted in each direction.
“It’s good for the people who travel Bandera Road because the traffic flow is so heavy,” she said, adding, “It’s not practical to have police at every light all the time.”