Red Light Cameras Run Their Course in Frisco

City halted program last year after citations slowed

Frisco police say the success of the city's red-light cameras ultimately led to the program's end.

Intersections that were the city's most dangerous are now among the city’s safest. But the red-light cameras that policed the intersections have been gone for almost a year.

The fees for citations poured in during the program's first year, along with enough cash to pay for the private company that ran the program, the use of cameras and software.

But then drivers figured out where the cameras were. As citations and collisions declined, so did the need for the cameras.

“They really put themselves out of business by their mere effectiveness,” Henderson said.

Because fines no longer supported the program, Frisco pulled the cameras when the contracted ended in May 2009.

Frisco police installed cameras at the intersections of Gaylord Parkway and Dallas Parkway and Main Street and Dallas Parkway in May 2006. Both intersections are near the Dallas North Tollway.

“We had a couple of very high-incident locations where there were a number of crashes,” Sgt. Adam Henderson said.

And the cameras revealed why the intersections has some many crashes -- drivers were running red lights and turning without stopping, causing collisions.

But even without the cameras, the intersections remain among the safest in the city, perhaps because drivers still believe they exist.

“Our end goal being the reduction of collisions and citations -- that’s what we’re looking for,” Henderson said.

Frisco still has some problem intersections, and police say they may look to reinstall cameras in the future.

The department said it would like to see the technology upgraded so the camera systems and software have mobility and can be moved from intersection to intersection based on need.

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