Red-light cameras such as this one at Doddridge Street were taken down April 26 after the contract with the camera’s contractor expired and the Corpus Christi city council decided not to renew.
Cameras designed to capture images of traffic violations will stop snapping those costly candid shots after April 26, the Corpus Christi City Council decided at a meeting Feb. 14. The 10-year-old program has shown a decrease in the number of traffic accidents but not enough to make a difference, Corpus Christi Police Chief Mike Markle told the council.
“My recommendation after review is that we do not renew this program, that we cut ties and move on,” he said. “We’ve had some wins, some single-digit decreases, but when you have this volume of vehicles passing through intersections and you’re moving numbers by single digits, you’re not really improving much.”
The program began in 2007 with 10 cameras. Currently, 12 cameras monitor 11 intersections, resulting in more than 78,000 traffic violations. Of those, however, 35,000 were triggered by drivers legally making right-hand turns after a stop at a traffic light. And while the annual number of crashes decreased slightly at 11 intersections, most of the monitored intersections showed an increase of crashes with injuries.
The vote to pull the program was unanimous but not without reservation. City Councilwoman Lucy Rubio, District 3, said she was conflicted about the program but respected Markle’s opinion.
“I can see that it hasn’t made much of a difference,” she said.
Fines for red-light camera violations are $75.
