Florida: Audit Fails to Document Safety Improvement from Traffic Cameras
 16 years
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There is no evidence that the red light camera program in Tallahassee, Florida has done anything to reduce the number of collisions in the city, according to Tallahassee City Auditor Sam M. McCall. McCall's office released a report on the program late last month based upon a review of the available evidence for the program that became operational August 1, 2010.
The auditor also pointed out that individuals who register their vehicles to a business can safely toss their citations in the trash because there is no enforcement mechanism available to the city.
"In instances where the vehicle is owned by a business (or some other entity) there is not a driver's license to suspend nor is there an alternative mechanism in place to preclude the business from ignoring the fine and continue to renew the vehicle's license plates," McCall wrote.
Different Conclusion
Florida: Audit Fails To Document Safety Improvement From Traffic Cameras
There is no evidence that the red light camera program in Tallahassee, Florida has done anything to reduce the number of collisions in the city, according to Tallahassee City Auditor Sam M. McCall. McCall's office released a report on the program late last month based upon a review of the available evidence for the program that became operational August 1, 2010.
... [see below for left out paragraphs]
The auditor also pointed out that individuals who register their vehicles to a business can safely toss their citations in the trash because there is no enforcement mechanism available to the city.
"In instances where the vehicle is owned by a business (or some other entity) there is not a driver's license to suspend nor is there an alternative mechanism in place to preclude the business from ignoring the fine and continue to renew the vehicle's license plates," McCall wrote.
http://thenewspaper.com/news/39/3916.asp
Hawaiian Flyer and thenewspaper.com have taken factual statements and used them in a misleading way. Looking at the Headline used by both, one might conclude that the audit concluded that there was NOT any safety improvement from traffic cameras - leading to the implication that Tallahassee was LESS safe than before.
However, if you go to thenewspaper.com link and read what else was said, you will get a different impression.
These paragraphs were omitted by HawaiinFlyer
"We did not make any conclusions relating to the red light camera's impact on accidents and how those accidents impact public safety," McCall wrote. "We were not able to satisfy ourselves as to the completeness of the information available for three areas."
The auditor found Tallahassee Police and the Leon County Sheriff's Office failed to provide accident data in a format that could be used for comparison purposes. He also found the city's public works department only tracked traffic volume information on an "as needed" basis. The lack of volume data makes it far more difficult to have an accurate measurement of the safety impact of cameras. The accident reports available also lacked sufficient data regarding the severity of collisions.
"Absent reliable information relating to accidents, traffic volume, and injury severity, we could not draw a conclusion as to the degree that red light cameras have impacted public safety in Tallahassee," McCall wrote.
It would appear that the auditors concluded that they could not draw any conclusion one way or the other about safety because they lacked data.
If one goes to the underlying Audit Report, there are other interesting pieces of information
http://thenewspaper.com/rlc/docs/2012/fl-thasaudit.pdf
"6) Noted no violation of State law or instances of noncompliance with the terms of the contract between the
City and the red light camera system vendor;
7) Did not identify any instances of violations being cited in
error. However, there were instances where officers
reviewing violations did not always issue notices of violations when they could have."
This sounds to me like the city was
1. in compliance with regulations
and
2. more lenient than they had to be - giving motorists some benefit of doubt.
Indeed, the Executive Summary emphasizes that.
"Executive summary
We have concluded that the red light program has reduced the
number of red light running incidents at intersections where
cameras have been installed, that the revenues from fees and fines
cover the expenses of the program, and the program has been
implemented such that adequate controls are in place to provide
reasonable assurance that only valid violations will be sent to
registered vehicle owners. We also identified some items that
will improve the program"
If I had only read the post by HawaiianFlyer, I would have been mislead. I invite you to draw your own conclusions.