Bicycle Austin forum

MichaelBluejay

Webmaster

From: Austin, TX

Registered: 2008-05-26

Posts: 1,466

Website

Red light camera stats for Austin

This article has year-by-year figures for citations and revenue for red light cameras in Austin:

http://kxan.com/2014/08/13/austins-red- … ry-scheme/

The takeaway is that they appeared to have significantly reduced the amount of red-light running (by about 1/3), which of course was the point, according to the City.  Naturally, others view it as just a money-making scheme.  The comments section of the article is filled with drivers whining about the cameras.  No one's concerned about safety.

10,000 people are cited by the cameras annually for driving large, dangerous vehicles through red lights, but we know who the real menace on Austin's streets are, don't we?  It's law-breaking bicyclists.

dougmc

Administrator

Registered: 2008-06-01

Posts: 631

Re: Red light camera stats for Austin

10,000 people are cited by the cameras annually for driving large, dangerous vehicles through red lights, but we know who the real menace on Austin's streets are, don't we?  It's law-breaking bicyclists.

That would seem to be true.

Folks on Facebook seem to be reporting a crackdown on cyclists running stop signs and red lights right now by APD, with it happening at 4th and Red River and on the Drag.  I haven't heard anything "official", however.

bizikletari

Member

Registered: 2009-03-18

Posts: 223

Re: Red light camera stats for Austin

I doubt there are 10,000 cyclists in Austin.
I guess percentages are important, but still that raw figure seems a lot more worrysome than a few hipsters running a red light on a fixie.

dougmc

Administrator

Registered: 2008-06-01

Posts: 631

Re: Red light camera stats for Austin

I don't think the "large, dangerous vehicles" he was referring to were bicycles.  And I suspect that there *are* more than 10k people in Austin who ride a bicycle at least occasionally ... (that would be a mere 1-2%.)

That said, I'm not finding any exact figures, but this link plus some math comes to an average figure that's really close to 10k/year, so I suspect that it's about correct for fines handed out by the city's red light cameras.