When people think about the red-light camera program, they picture red-light runners blowing straight through intersections.

These types of violations can cause the most serious accidents. However, the data shared with the council on Tuesday paints a very different picture about Redmond.

The data shows that just one car per day per intersection is entering an intersection after the light is red. Yet the city has issued more than $550,000 in tickets to 4,500 citizens in two months. More than 90 percent of these are for rolling right turns (California stops).

Of the $3.4 million in tickets the city is on pace to issue this year, $3 million will be for California stops.

The red-light program is supposed to be about increasing safety by reducing accidents. Yet, two government studies show that one out of 1,000 accidents results from a California stop at an intersection with a signal (United States Department of Transportation and California Accident Data).

The city has told us that collision data does not support the installation of the cameras. We can now see why. The city has had virtually no accidents at these intersections prior to the installation of the cameras (.6 accidents per month per intersection). The lack of accidents should help dispel the false premise that dangerous driving behavior is out of control in the city.

So, again, we ask the question: What is the purpose of the program? What is the problem it is trying to solve? The critics of this program are put in the tough position of having to ask the questions that should have been answered independently last year.

Before signing the contract with ATS, the city should have obtained recommendations from independent experts to establish the problem or determine if the ATS product is the best solution. If they had, many of the contradictions above would have been addressed. Instead, the city accepted the free study provided by ATS who will make millions off of its contract with the city.

But, it’s not too late.

The city has many months before they will vote to extend or terminate the program. We ask the city to consider hiring an independent consultant that will look at this issue from all angles and make an independent recommendation to the city. A competent, independent study shared with the public would address some of these legitimate concerns.

On the other hand, continuing the red-light camera program given what we now know and without an independent study, would unfairly convince many citizens that the program is really about raising revenue and not reducing accidents.

Scott Harlan, Redmond