Arlington County police will begin using red-light cameras this summer to ticket drivers who speed through intersections after the light has changed.
Red-light cameras — which are used in the District of Columbia — were used in Arlington between 1999 and 2004 as part of an experimental program the Virginia General Assembly authorized in several Northern Virginia jurisdictions.
That program expired in 2005,but the legislature passed a law in early 2007 giving all jurisdictions with more than 10,000 residents permission to use red-light cameras.
“But for us it wasn’t as easy as just turning the cameras back on, because our contract with the previous vendor had expired,” Arlington police spokesman John Lisle said.
“We really had to re-start the process, and bid it out and do a study to determine where the cameras should be located.”
The police department is in the final stages of selecting a vendor and expects to reinstate the program July 1, Lisle said.
Lisle declined to discuss the details of the program, saying they were still being worked out.
Virginia limits jurisdictions from placing cameras at more than one intersection per 10,000 residents.
Arlington, with a population of approximately 200,000, would be able to have no more than 19 cameras.
Jurisdictions also are required to advertise the program and post road signs notifying drivers they are approaching a camera.
Some studies have found red-light cameras reduce the number of side-on accidents but may increase the number of rear-end collisions — the result of drivers slamming on their brakes when a light changes to avoid getting a ticket.
“You might get more rear-end collisions,” Lisle said, “but they don’t tend to be as violent as when cars slam into each other’s sides at high speeds in the middle of an intersection.”
