File photo
Audio By Carbonatix
More than 16,000 citations have been issued at the four Denver intersections presently outfitted with red-light cameras. And the Denver Police Department confirms that plans are in the works to add such devices to two more.
The four intersections that are part of the controversial program at present are Sixth and Lincoln, Sixth and Kalamath, 8th and Speer, and 36th and Quebec.
Of this quartet, Sixth and Lincoln generates the most tickets – and, by association, the most revenue. According to data from January 1 to July 31, 2018, provided by the Denver Police Department and detailed below, 7,343 citations were issued for infractions at those cross streets, compared to 5,560 at 36th and Quebec, 1,755 at Sixth and Kalamath, and 1,740 at 8th and Speer.
That adds up to a grand total of 16,344 red-light tickets issued at just four Denver intersections during the first seven months of the year.
And the number of red-light-camera-equipped intersections is expected to grow by two soon.
According to DPD spokesperson John White, the department hasn’t settled on the final locations, though he expects the new intersections chosen will be spots “where we’ve had the most crashes.”
File photo
Right now, it’s looking like three of the current intersections will keep their red-light cameras and the equipment will be removed from one, with three more outfitted with the gear – “but that’s not set in stone,” White points out. “It could change.”
Likewise, no date has been set for the announcement of the expansion or when it should be complete and operational.
As for the intersections where red-light cameras are recording now, the DPD provided four metrics: “Total Captured,” the number of potential violations detected, “Total Issued,” the number of violation notices that were actually mailed to drivers, “Total Paid” and “Total Outstanding.”
The disparity between the total possible violations captured and citations actually sent out is wide. In the case of Sixth and Lincoln, the former is more than twice the size of the latter.
Another hefty gap – more than 3,400 at Sixth and Lincoln – exists between citations issued and those for which payment has been received. Mary Dulacki, the department’s indispensable records overseer, says the figures differ because some photos may be too blurry for identification purposes, while others show someone other than the person to whom the citation was sent, potentially resulting in the “nomination” of another driver to pay the violation or a challenge in court. Payments in transit are a factor, too.
Here are the totals for the four current red-light camera intersections in Denver.
File photo
Number Four: 8th and Speer
Total Captured – 3,299
Total Issued – 1,740
Total Paid – 880
Total Outstanding – 61
Number Three: Sixth and Kalamath
Total Captured – 4,227
Total Issued – 1,755
Total Paid – 818
Total Outstanding – 60
Number Two: 36th and Quebec
Total Captured – 10,418
Total Issued – 5,506
Total Paid – 2,370
Total Outstanding – 332
Number One: Sixth and Lincoln
Total Captured – 15,943
Total Issued – 7,343
Total Paid – 3,989
Total Outstanding – 265
