ANCHORAGE — A proposal that will go before the Anchorage Assembly would allow the municipality to install and use cameras to ticket drivers who run red lights.
If approved by the assembly, the proposal will appear on the April ballot for voters to decide, KTVA-TV reported Monday.
Assembly Vice Chairman Dick Traini worked on the ordinance and said using the cameras will help make roads safer.
“We don’t have enough police officers to have one at every intersection,” Traini said during an assembly meeting this month. “Using technology, I think, will help us stop the amount of carnage we’re seeing with red light runners.”
Several drivers told KTVA they think the assembly should consider other alternatives or make sure that signage is included along with the cameras so drivers know they’re being monitored.
“If the yellow lights were maybe a tad bit longer? Because I know when I see a yellow light and I’m in this kind of weather I definitely have to judge immediately if I think I can make the stop or if I’m just gonna try and get through it real quick,” said Anchorage driver William Corey.
Amanda Stromberg Prentke suggested the cameras be installed gradually, “otherwise the drivers are just gonna freak out.”
The practice of using a camera to ticket red light runners without a police officer present is prohibited in 10 states and limited in 10 others, according to the Governor’s Highway Safety Association.
Traini said the ordinance is still just a draft and asked that it be part of an upcoming assembly work session.
Public comments will be accepted on the camera proposal at the assembly’s next meeting Tuesday.
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Information from: KTVA-TV, http://www.ktva.com
