Catching up from the weekend - Remember that list of intersections where the red light cameras were going to be installed? Well, forget it. Things have changed, thanks to a ruling by AG Greg Abbott that red light cameras can be installed on roads owned by TxDOT.
"Now we can truly impact safety, because now we're going to be using the (more dangerous) locations instead of having to work around" them, said Houston Police Department Executive Assistant Chief Martha Montalvo.About half of the most dangerous intersections in the city belong to TxDOT, Montalvo said. Those locations can now be monitored by cameras intended to catch drivers who run red lights, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said in an opinion issued late Friday.
"(TxDOT) may permit local entities to install camera equipment to monitor compliance with traffic-control signals for the purpose of enforcing traffic laws," Abbott's opinion reads.
HPD likely will scrap the list of 10 sites it released earlier this month as the first camera locations and come up with a new one that includes TxDOT intersections, Montalvo said. That new list could be released as soon as this afternoon, she said.
Many of the highways and other major roads in the city are owned by TxDOT, as are some smaller but busy roads, such as Westheimer outside the loop.The city had gone ahead with the project, which has been in the works since City Council approved it in 2004, despite waiting on Abbott's opinion.
Now if we'd only promise to measure that effect and take appropriate action based on what we learn from those measurements, I'd be happy.
If only?
Does that mean that you've backed away from the privacy and revenue-generation concerns you expressed strongly in the past?
Posted by: Kevin Whited on June 28, 2006 8:24 AMNo, I still have those concerns. But that battle has been fought, and I see no value in trying to re-fight it again at this time. So, I'm trying a different tack. If it can be shown that these things have little or no effect, then the case against them can be pressed more strongly. If not, then as I said before we'll all have to weigh the positives against the concerns we have and go from there.
Posted by: Charles Kuffner on June 28, 2006 8:41 AM