Glitch explains lack of tickets from red light camera in Lake in the Hills

Lake in the Hills police have solved the mystery behind why its new red light camera at Randall and Miller roads did not catch a single motorist running the red light during its first week of operation last month.

"We found that although the camera ... was capturing the data, it was not sending it to the vendor, so it was just sitting, waiting to be transmitted," said Police Sgt. Robert Harper. "It was a glitch on their end."

The vendor, LaserCraft Inc., has since fixed the problem, leaving dozens of unhappy motorists in its wake.

A month after that camera went live, its footage helped police determine that there were 41 instances of motorists bypassing that particular red light, Harper said.

The camera at Algonquin and Hilltop roads tracked 68 violations.

In one month alone, Lake in the Hills was due to rake in $10,900 from the 109 tickets issued to scofflaws. If you're caught on camera with your entire car over the stop line, you face a $100 ticket.

Police chose these intersections due to the high number of accidents and red light violations reported there.

In 2006, there were 49 traffic-related accidents at Randall and Miller roads. That same year, 27 accidents were reported at Algonquin and Hilltop roads, officials said.

The red light cameras work like this: a laser beam extends across the line just before the stop light and the camera catches you if your entire vehicle moves across the line while the light is still red.

The camera sends the footage to the police department, where officers review it to determine whether a violation was made and who is ticketed.

LaserCraft rents the cameras to the village for $4,495 a month for each device - there is one more camera in place at Acorn Lane and Randall Road.

Money generated from the cameras goes toward paying the renting fee LaserCraft charges, with the remainder going to the village.