Malone's goal: Stop red-light offenders by using cameras

Motorists who tend to forget that it is illegal to run a red light may soon receive a $50 lesson, even if a police officer is nowhere in sight.

Clark County Commissioner Lance Malone said Thursday that he hopes to see photo cameras installed in the valley's most treacherous intersections within six months.

"Red lights and speeding contribute to most fatalities in Clark County," said Malone, a former Metro traffic officer. "This isn't about collecting money. Saving lives is of utmost importance."

The cameras, which have become useful tools in several cities throughout the country, snap two photographs of each vehicle that enters an intersection after the traffic light has turned red.

A loop under the roadway just short of the intersection triggers the camera.

Those caught never have a chance to rattle off excuses to an officer. And with solid evidence secured in a bulletproof casing above the intersection, they may not want to take their case to court.

The subpoena that comes in the mail shows photographs of the driver and the license-plate number. It also says how long the light was yellow or how long it was red and the speed of the vehicle.

If the owner of the vehicle is not the offender, he or she must identify who was driving the car.

Surveillance cameras already exist in automatic teller machines and in elevators. Malone is poised to face critics who would argue that the traffic radar system is Big Brother once again intruding on their lives.

"When a 3,000-pound vehicle T-bones your vehicle, that's an invasion of privacy," Malone said.

Malone plans to use a half-million dollars of the county's $2 1/2 million Local Law Enforcement Block Grant to buy a radar van and four cameras to equip two intersections.

The program would steadily expand using fees collected from violators.

The radar van works similarly to the hand-held devices used by officers, except that it is more accurate and records a license-plate number. The van's radar beam does not trigger most radar detectors, Malone said.

While the van would be stationed in school zones or along roads where drivers tend to speed, Malone said he will talk to Metro officers and the Nevada Department of Transportation to determine where the cameras would be placed.

He listed the Rancho Drive-Charleston Boulevard, Sahara Avenue-Decatur Boulevard and Sahara-Las Vegas Boulevard intersections as possibilities. The county may install 10 casings and rotate the cameras.

"Maybe an intersection has a photo radar, maybe it doesn't," Malone said. "We're trying to get in people's minds, 'I'm not going to run this red light.' "

Alex Jensen, city manager of Layton City, Utah, said that is precisely the attitude motorists adopted after council members agreed to install photo cameras in that locale's school zones and on U.S. Highway 89, a deadly road.

The cameras in Layton City were put up in 1995 but removed a little more than a year later when the Utah Legislature ruled them too intrusive and banned them from the state.

"It was a political hot potato, and we were casualties of that," Jensen said. "Otherwise, we would still be using it today. It had nothing to do with revenue and everything to do with safety."

When the Utah city's cameras were first installed, hundreds of tickets were issued. Soon, however, people became aware of the devices and crept through school zones and slowed down along Highway 89.

Jensen said plenty of crashes still occurred on the highway after the cameras were in place because several roads intersect it. But because motorists weren't speeding, the accidents were less serious, he said.

"It's a very controversial tool, and civil libertarians had concerns about it," Jensen said. "We did, too. That's why we chose to use it in a very limited way."

Jim Burns, chairman of the Clark County Libertarian Party, said Thursday he is less concerned about privacy issues and more disturbed by the type of funding the county will seek.

Burns questioned whether the system is needed and emphasized that simply because the county has a block grant doesn't mean it's free money. It's taxpayers' money, he said.

"On the surface it looks like a good idea because nobody wants our children to be run over by an automobile running through a red light," he said. "It really isn't that big of a problem. It's a case of politicians creating problems so they can spend money on them."

Malone said his interest was piqued when he saw how effective the program was in Scottdale, Ariz. -- one of the first municipalities to use the cameras.

According to Scottsdale's statistics, the number of accidents in intersections where the cameras were installed dropped by nearly 200. That accident count is close to the entire number recorded in 1993, when the city's population was less.

Malone sent a letter to the federal government Thursday to determine whether the photo cameras are eligible for the block-grant funding. If it meets the grant criteria, the County Commission could decide whether it will implement the project as soon as Sept. 1.

In the meantime, the county will search for vendors who supply and operate the equipment. Malone said the vendors' technicians would be responsible for processing the film.

If the cameras are installed, motorists will be given a six-month grace period during which they will be warned but not fined.

"It is against the law to run a red light, but we want to be fair to everyone because this is a new system," Malone said.

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