Overland Park Police Chief John Douglass watched the traffic light turn green at Stearns and Santa Fe Drive on Monday, then watched another motorist dart through a red light right in front of him.

"If I hadn't been paying attention, I'd have been right in his path," said the chief, adding that he'd not been in a car equipped with red lights and siren and, thus, had not pursued the scofflaw.

Unfortunately, it wasn't a Kodak moment either. But if the Kansas Legislature supports a position endorsed by a unanimous vote of the Overland Park City Council Monday night, the city could begin using cameras to catch red-light runners in the act and ticket them.

Monday's vote signals the governing body's second attempt, through its annual legislative lobbying program, to win state legislation authorizing the use of signal-mounted cameras to ticket red-light runners. And this time, City Traffic Engineer Brian Shields said, Overland Park's effort will be bolstered by a not-so-secret weapon - the results of a red-light-camera pilot project involving Overland Park, Olathe and the Kansas Department of Transportation.

"With the pilot project coming to a close, results have been stunning," according to the 2004 State Legislative Program adopted by the City Council Monday.

The pilot project, which involved cameras, but no ticketing, at three local intersections, revealed 1,315 red-light violations in a one-year period at 119th and Hawthorne Plaza in Overland Park, with some violators entering the intersection at speeds over 70 mph.

In addition, a camera at 95th and Quivira, Overland Park, captured digital images of 3,499 red-light runners over 12 months, Shields said, and during just a six-month period, 4,500 vehicles were filmed running red lights at 135th and Mur-Len Road in Olathe.

The amazing thing about those numbers, Shields said, is that the cameras filmed red-light runners heading only one direction, eastbound, through the three intersections.

According to Shields, Overland Park's traffic-accident data would likely support the installation of red-light cameras at 10 to 20 of the city's 230 signalized intersections if Kansas joins the 15 other states where statutes allow the use of cameras to catch red-light runners.

But some sources believe the prospects of enabling legislation being passed during the next session, which begins in January, are dim.

State Rep. Gary Hayzlett, R-Lakin, who chairs the House Transportation Committee, said that while red-light cameras are being used extensively to ticket motorists on both coasts, "I'm not sure Kansas is ready for it."

"And I personally don't have a very comfortable feeling about it either," he said.

As he did last February, Hayzlett said, he would allow his committee to hear the issue again in 2004. He would even allow a vote on it, he said.

"We could have voted on it last session," Hayzlett added, "but I guarantee it would have gone down with the way the committee felt. And, even if it makes it to the House floor, I don't think there's a great deal of support for it there either."

Hayzlett said he would prefer to see Kansas cities dealing with red-light violations the old-fashioned way.

"There are a couple of towns I frequent where they have put an officer at an intersection for maybe a week," he said, "and the people have begun to say, 'OK, if you're going to go through that particular area, you'd better shut it down or you're going to be in trouble.'

"That's a lot cheaper than putting cameras in, and you don't invade people's privacy that way."

Police Chief Douglass disagreed, calling the old-fashioned method prescribed by Hayzlett "a costly and ineffective method of enforcement."

State Rep. Jim Yonally, an Overland Park Republican and one of three Johnson Countians on the House Transportation Committee, said he had not yet decided how he would vote on the issue.

"I could make a case for either side," Yonally said. "On the con side is the argument about Big Brother starting to monitor everything we do. If I pull up to a light and there's nobody coming within sight and I can see three or four blocks in all directions, who cares if I run the light?

"On the other side, accidents are caused because people run lights, and maybe if they thought they were going to get caught they wouldn't do that."

Gardner Republican John Ballou, another member of the House Transportation Committee, did not return phone calls. But Ballou has consistently sided with conservatives like U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, who has assailed red-light cameras as an invasion of privacy motivated by a desire to boost government coffers, not safety.

Conversely, Lenexa Republican David Huff, the other Johnson Countian on the House Transportation Committee, is an enthusiastic supporter of the red-light-camera law proposed for Kansas.

According to Huff, conservative Kansas lawmakers like Hayzlett make it difficult to approve any new government intrusion into private lives - even a good seat-belt or helmet law.

But he believes the red-light law being proposed by KDOT, Overland Park and Olathe will have a good chance of passage after enough lawmakers become familiar with the details.

"We were all a little surprised with that bill last year, because we really didn't know it was coming," Huff said. "But after we heard it, it sounded pretty doggone good."

Unlike the state law in California, the Kansas bill would not require identification and ticketing of drivers filmed running red lights. Rather, the owners of red-light-running vehicles, whether driving or not, would be ticketed for the infractions, which would be categorized as nonmoving violations.

In response to privacy concerns, Shields added that the red-light-camera systems tested in Overland Park were incapable of keeping a continuous watch on intersections.

The system tested on 119th Street, provided by a firm called TransCore, utilizes standard 35 mm film, while the system at 95th and Quivira, provided by Nestor Traffic Systems, uses digital video.

Both systems are able to detect vehicles that are preparing to run red lights and to capture images of their license plates. But, according to Overland Park officials, the Nestor system is easier to use and includes a feature that could saves lives in a more direct way than simply deterring red-light violators.

After predicting a vehicle will be unable to stop for a red light, Chief Douglass explained, the Nestor system not only will capture images of the errant vehicle but also will send an electronic request for a brief emergency extension of the red-light signals for cross traffic.

Judging from the statistics revealed by the recent pilot study, the approximate $50,000 cost for each camera would be quickly recouped through red-light tickets, which currently cost Overland Park violators $90 plus court costs.

But Douglass emphasized that the city's support for the cameras was all about boosting safety, not revenues. According to Shields, studies have shown that red-light cameras reduce accidents caused by red-light runners by 20 percent to 40 percent.

©The Johnson County Sun 2003