Thanks to an excellent article in the May 27 edition of the Redmond Reporter, we have a number of facts available that provide the basis for a rational discussion of the ongoing traffic enforcement camera issue.

Of the 4,885 violations recorded for March and April, including the 581 violations where the police department “rejected” and opted to not mail out a citation, 267 violations — or 5.5 percent — of the total were due to a driver running a red light.

The other 4,500 plus events involved rolling stops on right turns.While still a violation I find it surprising that the City of Redmond is on track to generate over $2 million in new traffic fines annually for violations that have nothing to do with running red lights or speeding in school crossings.

Is it possible in the interest of making a lot more money with the City of Redmond that the camera vendor, American Traffic Solutions (ATS), suggested or insisted that Redmond set up these additional cameras, knowing from experience that is where the money is generated?

I think everyone is in agreement that measures that help eliminate instances of drivers running red lights or exceeding 20 mph in a marked school crossing are ones we wholeheartedly support. However if the cameras are going to be primarily used to generate revenue for ATS and or the city for other reasons, the implementation of the camera systems has to be questioned.

It would be helpful if the Redmond Police Department would publish the statistics for vehicle and pedestian or bicycle collisions pre- and post-camera installation at the effected intersections in order to provide a factual picture of what benefit these cameras have provided to date.

Finally if the criteria for issuing citations based on the camera set ups is infalliable, why is it necessary to arbitrarily review and “reject”  certain citations?

Tom Nelson, Woodinville