Buffalo Grove to talk with red-light camera vendor
Buffalo Grove will begin formal talks with a red-light camera company, but has stopped short of fully committing to the controversial system.
Trustees will decide later whether Buffalo Grove will install the cameras, but voted 6-0 Monday night to allow the village staff to explore a potential agreement with vendor Gatso USA.
Village Manager Bill Brimm said Buffalo Grove and Gatso will discuss only "business terms" for the time being, and not the philosophy behind red light cameras.
He said the board's approval to request proposals allows staff to meet with the company "in good faith."
It is not known how long talks between the village and Gatso will take before the issue comes back before the village board. This is Buffalo Grove's second set of talks with a red-light camera company - the first talks, with LaserCraft, lasted from October 2008 to April 2009 and did not end in an agreement.
Trustee Jeff Berman said Monday he has reservations about red-light cameras and is "deeply concerned" about reports that cameras in some suburbs don't promote safety as much as produce revenue.
The Daily Herald's "Seeing Red" series found most of the revenue gained from red-light cameras is from right-on-red violations, which are not a significant safety issue.
The analysis also showed that many of the cameras are installed at intersections where there are few crashes related to vehicles running red lights.
"If we move forward I want to do it in the best possible way," Berman said. "I don't want us to make the same mistakes our neighbors have."
Village President Elliott Hartstein said safety is the reason why the village is even exploring the issue.
Buffalo Grove police have recommended the use of red-light cameras to assist with conventional enforcement since they say red-light violations are the leading cause of accidents at the top 10 high-crash intersections in the village.
Trustee Beverly Sussman said she wanted village staff to investigate "proof, evidence and statistics" showing the cameras are necessary.
Trustee Lisa Stone added she was hesitant to vote to authorize the village's discussions with Gatso, but in order to "get to the nitty-gritty" of data like crash totals at intersections, it was necessary to approve the measure.
LaserCraft offered a flashless system. Gatso has a filtered flash, which is more muted than the traditional sharp blast of white light.
Before Monday's board meeting, village officials met with a Gatso representative who gave an overview of the company and its technology.
If it proceeds with the cameras, Buffalo Grove would choose whether it wants to ticket right-turn-on-red drivers who don't come to a complete stop. Gatso's cameras can be set to allow drivers going a certain speed to turn right without being ticketed, said Paul Bazzano, Gatso's vice president of sales.
Its system also can track license plates - useful when Amber Alerts are issued in suspected child abductions, Bazzano said.
Bazzano said a typical village contract is three years, and the penalty for removing cameras mid-contract would be $1,000 to $1,200 per month.
Gatso's cameras are in use in Hanover Park, Streamwood, Lake Zurich, Waukegan, Homewood and Oak Forest. It also supplies Illinois State Police with speed enforcement in highway construction zones, Bazzano said.
He said the company provided the world's first red light camera system in the Netherlands in 1966. Since then, Gatso has put in more than 45,000 cameras in 60 countries. The company claims it has never lost a court case or administrative hearing because of its technology.