MILLINGTON, TN (abc24.com) – Happy Anniversary to the Millington red light cameras.
It has been about a year since the red light and speeding cameras went on line in Millington and according to Millington’s top cop, the number of drivers complaining about camera usage has dropped dramatically as they have become accustomed to their presence.
More importantly, some other numbers have also seen big decreases.
“We have found that there has been a large reduction in the number of citations written by the speed van,” said Millington Police Chief Ray Douglas, “there has also been a reduction in citations written from the red light cameras. So, it is working.”
Red light runners and intersection crashes were all too common in Millington, creating the need for the camera program. And they have been effective; the numbers don’t lie.
Citations issued from red light cameras are down by 51 percent.
As a friendly hint, most red light tickets are issued between one and four in the afternoon.
81 percent of red light tickets and 76 percent of speeding tickets are issued to vehicles not registered in Millington.
So, if you’re passing through you have to be careful, but not perfect.
“We don’t have zero tolerance in Millington,” Douglas told abc24.com, “we normally give everyone ten miles over the speed limit, that’s on the speed van.”
But the speed van has done its thing, generating about 8,500 tickets. An important point though, 94 percent of those ticketed have not received a second ticket.
So remember, when it comes to driving in Millington, George Orwell said it best: Big Brother is watching.
“Our main goal is to keep our citizens safe,” said Douglas.
As for the revenues generated by the cameras, Chief Douglas said, “Our revenues are going down. I’m happy about that because it shows the program is working. Our ultimate goal is to get down to zero.”
A request for revenues generated to American Traffic Solutions - the company that administers the Millington camera program - did not yield an answer.
As for the Memphis red light program, the Memphis Police Department did provide quite a few statistics.
Their number show the cameras resulted in the issuance of just over 108,000 tickets, nearly 71,000 of which have been paid.
At an average of about fifty bucks a ticket, that would generate nearly $3.6 million in revenue.
