Red Light Cam Revenue Grows in Brick, But Crash Injuries Down to Zero

Summonses may be up, but injuries from accidents are down at Brick's intersections equipped with red light violation cameras.

Data from the township's three intersections equipped with the cameras was shared at a special budget meeting of the township council Tuesday night. Officials have tallied up the numbers from 2012 and found net revenue from the cameras was up 36 percent – spurred by the addition of the third equipped intersection – but right-angle, or T-bone, style accidents were down 66.67 percent since the inception of the program.

In all, the number of recorded violations increased 21 percent to 21,591 in 2012 from 17,492 in 2011 with the addition to the third intersection. Of those, 18,825 resulted in a summons being issued after a review by a police officer.

"Generally speaking, they do a good job of culling out violations that do not meet our business rules," said Chief Nils R. Bergquist.

The number of summonses paid was 16,336, a collection rate of 84.76 percent. From each $85 ticket generated after the township fulfills its contract with American Traffic Solutions, Inc., the owner of the cameras, $73.50 stays in Brick with the remainder being turned over to the state's Administrative Office of the Courts.

In all, $1,388,560 in gross revenue was received in 2012, an increase of 29.21 percent over the previous year. Of that amount, the township netted $684,496, in 2012, an increase of 36.34 percent from 2011.

American Traffic Solutions is paid per approach, per intersection, however the township would never be on the hook if enough tickets are not generated to cover the company's monthly fee of approximately $4,300 per approach. The company would accept whatever revenue was generated, meaning in the worst case scenario, the township would simply make no money. That has never happened, however, officials said.

In all, 2012 yielded a 66.67 percent reduction in the most serious type of crashes – right angle, or T-bone style crashes – at the measured intersections since the township began participating in the state's red light camera pilot program in 2009.

Statistics compiled by the police department also showed that although there was a "slight" rise in property damage from rear-end crashes at the intersections, there were zero bodily injuries that occurred from accidents at those same intersections, and the overall amount of property damage had decreased.

Accidents at the red light camera intersections, since the cameras have been installed, increased by 10 percent compared with a 44 percent increase in accidents at a number of control intersections that were used for a comparison in the same time frame.

Perhaps the most staggering statistic is one that may indicate the lights have worked to change the behavior of drivers: since the program's implementation, 95 percent of the vehicles that have received a violation have never received a second.