At Tuesday's meeting of the Public Safety Commission, Dalton Police Chief Jason Parker reported that the Red Light Camera program in Dalton is being met with success.
Currently, two intersections in Dalton are being monitored by Red Light Cameras: Thornton Avenue at Waugh Street and US 41 (Chattanooga Road) at Shugart Road.
In their first month of operation, the cameras at the Thornton/Waugh intersection detected 850 violations in August of 2007. During that first month, no citations were issued, only warnings. Nearly a year later, in June of 2008, only 107 violations occurred at the same intersection (74 of them in the northbound lanes).
In January of 2008, the Red Light Cameras at the Shugart/US 41 intersection went on-line. In their first full month of operation, February of 2008, 587 warnings were issued. In April 2008, after citations were being issued, only 382 violations occurred. Numbers were higher in May and June of 2008, with 616 violations in May. Violations in the eastbound and westbound lanes of US 41 have shown an overall decline since February of 2008.
In the six month period from January 2008 to June of 2008, there were 15 fewer crashes in vicinity of Shugart/US 41 than occurred between July and December of 2007. There were 3 fewer crashes in the physical intersection. Similarly, there were 2 fewer crashes in the vicinity of Waugh/Thornton in 2008 than in the last six months of 2007.
To view the full data from the Red Light Cameras in Dalton, click the following link: Download dalton_red_light_camera_stats_sep_23_2008.pdf
After Chief Parker's presentation on Tuesday, the Public Safety Commission voted to recommend the continuation of the Red Light Camera program in Dalton.
Dalton is not the only city in Georgia seeing Red Light Cameras translate into fewer drivers running red lights and few crashes. To read more about the use of Red Light Cameras from the Georgia Municipal Associaton, click here.
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