The Town Council (TC) commended the first responders who worked hard during hurricane Irene to protect the health and safety of Charlestown residents. CCA joins them in thanking:
- Emergency Management Director Kevin Gallup and his staff
- Chief Shippee, the police officers and dispatchers
- Lt. Pat McMahon, president of the Charlestown Ambulance-Rescue service, the fire chiefs and fire fighters
- Bill DiLibero, Town Administrator
- Alan Arsenault, DPW Director and his staff, and the Town employees and volunteers who worked tirelessly.
The YMCA Ad Hoc Committee was changed to an advisory committee allowing for key decision makers from the Charlestown Land Trust and YMCA to be included. Neighbors from the North and South have also selected participants, as well as the Planning Commission (PC), Conservation Commission and Parks and Recreation Commission. The committee will report back to the TC in December. A key part of the funding for the Y land is DEM’s grant money, which is still not decided.
The Breachway Grill on Charlestown Beach Road was given permission to serve beer and wine inside the restaurant, bar, and additionally now on the patio, conditional on receiving DEM approval on the Septic System Suitability Determination, or by decreasing the number of seats inside to match the current Septic System Suitability permit from DEM.
The Chief of Police asked for and received support for installing Red Light Cameras at stop lights on cross streets in Charlestown. Chief Shippee said he provided detailed studies to the TC that driving behavior changed and fewer accidents occurred when red light cameras are in use. This will not be a fundraiser for the Town.
Town Council member Lisa Dibello has suggested the Town Council begin Hometown Heroes award. The Council will be accepting nominations for this award.
The Town Solicitor recommended to the PC and to the TC that all wind turbines be prohibited as a temporary measure because the ordinance had been under a moratorium for too long and legally it was not appropriate to have another moratorium. President Tom Gentz reported that he had spoken to the Building Official and Town Planner and no one had requested any information on installing residential wind turbines. The PC has held meetings on a small wind generator ordinance and the PC should have that finished and back before the Town Council by November or December.
The Waste Water Commission requested a resolution and the TC approved their request to ask legislators that DEM consider rule changes to actively seek out and approve additional cost effective approaches to septic systems.
Thanks for sending us your neighbors’, friends’, relatives’ emails-our CCA list continues to grow. Know of anyone else to add to our list-send us an email with their email address.
Wow! Charlestown must be a BIG town to desire to install red light cameras. I assume the town is going to contract with a service to install and operate these cameras. So how much will the town get? Not a revenue raiser? You have to be kidding – its free revenue the town doesn’t have to do anything to collect except turn a police function over to a private company.
You should look at the experience in Houston where during the last election a voter-initiated referendum overwhelming voted to turn off the cameras that had been in place for several years. A judge has just ruled that the referendum was done illegally because it wasn’t a charter issue, but the city council and the mayor have elected to support the will of the citizens. The city now is in litigation with the camera vendor over the revenue they feel they were due under their contract. Traffic data collected since the cameras were turned off this spring show a DECLINE in accidents at those intersections that had red light cameras. All previous studies conducted by Rice University were either inconclusive or showed red light cameras contributed to accidents.
I hope the Charlestown council looks closely at both the legal implications of installing red light cameras and the contract they will be signing with the vendor. They also need to understand how the revenue may ultimately turn the town into a cocaine addict.
Regarding the red light cameras …. My wife and I visit England regularly and there they have speed cameras all over the highways, mounted on bridges, overhead signage etc, along with lots of signs warning you “speed cameras active”. They certainly make people a lot more aware of their speed and careful not to go too fast. I think that Charlestown should have lots of similar signs if it does install the cameras. Our motivation should be to prevent accidents.
I have no desire to duplicate the failed socialist police state that is modern England.
Anyone who does, can move there.
Just where does this march to an Orwellian nightmare stop? When we are all under constant surveillance, even while we sleep?
No thanks. No cameras!
My experience in a town where I used to live when they installed the system was that everyone was not happy and there was an initial spike of rear end accidents at yellow lights as people stopped quickly and unexpectedly. People wanted to avoid tickets and on yellow lights some folks who usually would go through the light now choose to stop. It led to accidents. What changed was the County lengthened the yellow light cycle and did a PR campaign that said they would not ticket folks who were entering the light at yellow and exited when it had turned to red. They were giving a distance and time benefit for motorists to avoid yellow light crashes. It seemed to work.
The openness of Route 1 and the tendency for people to speed would certainly be a factor in sudden stops and run thrus. A short yellow light would certainly raise revenue, but probably make the citizens ballistic.
Certainly this would be taken into account by the vendor, but it pays not to assume. There must be different standards for urban intersections and rural highways. The folks I would like to see caught in the act are the left hand turners from the high speed lane. Apparently a few folks can’t figure out the dog legs, or are too lazy to take them. That is a really dangerous practice now because nobody expects them to be sitting there at a green light. I’ve seen it a bunch of times at West Beach Rd. and once at Wildflower.
I stop before red lights, but I don’t like the idea of being tracked either. Do they photograph everyone, weather you stop or not? I think reaction to this will depend on how much you trust government.
I am in agreement with the writer about not having red light cameras. In this tiny town with what 6 lights, it seems overkill. I also think its too much of “Big Brother” I don’t want our whereabouts tracked, just on principle. I saw a similar TV news story on them and that paying the fine isn’t even mandatory, since they weren’t actually legally binding. Thanks for the information stream.
I know this issue is about red lights, but since John brought up the speed cameras in England, I was reminded of this Wired article about feedback loops which mentioned “dynamic speed displays” (where your speed is measured and displayed underneath the speed limit as you drive by). They’ve proven effective, and the idea is that by giving people data about their behavior in context, where they have the ability to change it and get real-time feedback, most people will do the right thing.
I myself would like to see police patrols north of post road on the side streets. the speed is mostly 25mph and the average speed is 40mph. The police are welcome to park in my yard.
On the traffic cameras, I do not want our town spending the hard earned money of our people on red light TV cameras. This is similar to these ridiculous battery powered speed monitors towed around and left by the police cars. I believe this is inappropriate use of tax money. How ridiculous is it when we pay our tax dollars for an electronic speed monitoring device that says “Have a Nice Day”. Absurd
How about we put cameras in police dept. fire dept and town hall. so we can have more accountability of what they do and where our money goes.
Instead of red light cameras, why not just reduce the speed limit on RT#1 to 40 mph especially along the area of the new traffic lights. A reduced speed limit would improve safety especially when monitored by local police issuing tickets for violators.
Speaking of rear end accidents -
I live in Delray in the winter and the drivers are terrible. I was traveling at 40 miles an hour when the yellow quickly light turned to red . I looked behind me and saw a man speeding and I quickly made a decision that if I stopped , he would not have time to stop and would rear end me with great force.
As I had my two young grandkids in the car, I made a split second decision to go through the light as it turned red. The man behind me did not stop and completely went through the red light. I was visibly shaken all day over this. I would rather pay the fine then have my family hurt. As a matter of fact, most seniors do not speed and I never go through red lights. This experience still haunts me and it happened last year
Re the comment about the English Police State, all countries have positives and negatives about living there and one should tabulate them all when making decisions, not just give one factor the total influence. I suggest that all of us need to be sufficiently open minded to consider if good practices in other countries can be beneficial here. We have many examples of this on the food area (Italian, Mexican, Chinese etc) so why not in traffic areas also?
The Westerly Sun had a good story about this, but it’s not in the free online section of the paper. Like the comments here, the Sun story said there were supporters and detractors. Police Chiefs like them, the ACLU is opposed. According to our police chief, they would not cost Charlestown money. From the Sun: “In general, a vendor is contracted to provide the signage, cameras and technology, and also pays for the installation of the system. Once in place, the company and municipality share the revenue generated by the violations, or more bluntly, tickets.” … “Several large U.S. cities have abandoned their use because the program cost more to operate then the revenue it generated, regardless of safety benefits. Los Angeles, San Francisco and the state of Arizona are a few examples of this trend. However, in cities such as Austin, Texas, the program turned a profit from 2008 to 2010. The program has been so successful in reducing accidents that the reduced number of infractions is now causing the program to operate at a deficit. ”
Also according to the Sun article, “State law requires the system to work as follows: When a vehicle runs a red light, it passes over sensors triggering a photo of the vehicle entering the intersection. The photo is also enlarged to show the license plate.” It looks like the state law does not allow photographs of everyone in the intersection.
NPR ran a series of articles on this subject, you can listen or read the text of these. There are lots of different opinions here, but the yellow light issue is a real problem that should be addressed.
In LA, Paying Red Light Camera Fines Now Optional
$500 For Running A Red Light? Blame The Camera
Lawsuits Follow Red Light Cameras’ Arrival In Florida
Court Hears Case Against Red-Light Cameras
Do Speed Cameras Make Roads Safer?
This week we had a guest visiting from Florida for a week. The guest formerly lived and was in California and was a California Highway Patrol officer for 29 years. I mentioned to him that the Police Chief in Charlestown was recommending that we install Red Light Cameras in our town.
His response to me was “you don’t want them” when asked why he said “believe me you don’t want them” I respect this person and have known him for over 50 years.
My response to the Town of Charlestown and the Police Chief is “we don’t need big brother watching us” Is there a red light problem in Charlestown that needs to be fixed? If not leave it alone, and to say it is not going to generate revenue is unbelievable from the Town Council and Police Department.
I commend the open dialogue on the issue of red light cameras. I like the idea, but instead of having them at red lights, why not install them at stop signs and randomly along route 1 and route 1A. Install signs that say you will be ticketed if you do not obey the speed and traffic signs. There will always be someone who runs a red light, whether on purpose or by accident. I don’t believe these cameras will prevent that. But if we placed them strategically around town, I think they could help more overall without the danger of people trying to stop or beat the light. And it would create revenue quite regularly, a nice bonus to the town. I don’t have a speeding problem so this issue doesn’t bother me. These cameras are however a great resource should an accident occur at the site of it’s installation. Big brother watching over us is a ridiculous argument. If you’re not doing anything wrong, these cameras shouldn’t bother you. They are in parking lots, stores, malls, banks, some schools, etc.
I live in town near the Nordic Lodge and they have over the past year installed another stop sign near our home. Almost daily, I get someone who has run the stop sign, at full speed, purposefully/lazily, and almost hits us. It is a 3 way stop and only one of those directions usually stop. Our intersection alone would probably cover one town salary!!
http://autos.yahoo.com/news/traffic-light-camera-scam-steals-your-identity.html
Re: English Police State, keep an open mind.
Nothing sickens me more than idiots advocating we take the same road to Hell as other countries. Because some country has good food does not mean they aren’t a hell hole. Most countries we think of as having great cuisines, eat garbage at home because their creative chefs have all come here to be FREE!
By the way, the English have terrible food along with their failed socialist police state. If the “open minded” one loves his socialist police state so much, let him move to the one with the best food and stay there. May slave labor make him free.
I’ll keep my freedom ad my country, even if I have to die for it.
I’m curious.
Why so quick to make another rule? [red lights}
Agree with longer yellow lights.
Note that it is difficult to anticipate lights around corners. [ex. Ross Road coming from the south]
Background check first, please.
Verbal and visual instruction in Driver Education? Amount of time, visual and auditory links for students.
Precipitation of errors which occur at lights? Speed [why post 50 mph when 60 mph is allowed when police are present?]
Types of errors made at lights. percentage, perhaps.
Education should be the first recourse. It comes in the form of Driver Education, the examples set
by adults driving with children in the car and remedial action assigned by the courts.
I guessed the small bump over a traffic light was a camera, set to go off when a vehicle entered the intersection on a red light. The driver would receive a photo and a summons. It seemed a good preventive measure.
As for “Big Brother” anxiety–it could also be interpreted as appropriate parental vigilence. We DO need looking-after, because of careless/reckless drivers assuming lax enforcement of safety regulations.
Could the proposed cameras track progress of a vehicle being pursued by police–separate from the red-light function?
People have implied Charlestown residents don’t care about traffic fatalities. Last time I checked, drunk, drugged up, or sleep deprived people don’t stop at red lights because of cameras, they are too drunk to notice. People are right to be concerned about too short yellows, or getting ticketed for a right on red turn. If you do this you want to make sure to get a vendor that is sensitive to that. The vendor makes money and may not want to make it too easy to make the yellow. It’s fully reasonable that people are not perfectly informed about an issue. It’s okay to discuss things—that is why I like what CCA does as a community service—keep it up.
Regarding the comment that impaired drivers won’t see signs warning of red light cameras: You are probably correct, but if they get enough tickets because of the cameras, maybe that could get their license taken away before they kill someone.
Where do people get the idea that the yellow lights will be shorthened, sounds like a bunch of who shot John. The red light cameras are a great idea. If you don’t run the lights you don’t have to worry that your picture was taken.
I am against red light cameras.
Firstly the Charlestown police already have a NeoNazi reputation for their aggressive traffic stops. It’s another way for the police department to build animosity toward them.
Secondly I would like to say that during the past hurricane power outage I was often driving on the section of Rt 1, where for several days lights did not work. From what I observed people were careful and respectful of one another.
Lastly there are places, like the curve on West Beach Road near Old West Beach Road where speeding and reckless driving are a daily occurrence. People on their way to the breachway in the mornings fly down the road and around the corners. At the end of the day when they return they drive even faster—and some of them have been consuming alcohol. Contractors who flow in and out of Central Beach all day long almost always speed—some of them are driving heavy equipment. I have seen this on a daily basis for years. The speed limit is 25mph there. I have never seen a police car set a radar trap in that area—they do have a trap further toward Rt 1 once in a while in the summer. This is a matter of public safety—it’s real right now. I would expect there are numerous other places in Charlestown where the police could enforce speed limits and stop sign locations right now, without cameras.
Cameras are intrusive. Would the police allow us to mount cameras on their cars and in their station? Could we then post the video to YouTube or this web site.? I think not.
Local government already tinkers with our lives enough as it is. Our taxes are already insanely high and we get little for them. Cameras are just another form of taxation and control of our lives. When will this crap stop?