CAMERA SYSTEM AT WORK IN VIENNA, VA.

Cape Girardeau drivers who wonder what it's like to be electronically recorded and cited for running red lights can look to Vienna, Va., for insight.

Vienna, a Washington, D.C., suburb of 16,000, has automated red light technology nearly identical to the system Cape Girardeau officials are thinking of using here.

Opinions about the system there are mixed.

Michael Holmes, a senior in accounting at Washington and Lee University, lives in Vienna and said he appreciates the cameras because of the city's long-standing problem with red light runners.

"I think it's a good thing just because it cuts down on the people running the red lights, which is one of the most dangerous things you can do while driving," Holmes said. "I'd rather have video than a bunch of stop signs."

But Jim Beck, 55, who owns A.J.'s Sport Shop in Vienna, said he wants to see the video citation system done away with and does not recommend Cape Girardeau install it.

"It's a way your city council can raise money. That's the only reason for it," Beck said. "It's not going to make anybody safer. It's not going to do anything but piss people off and add money to their coffers at little expense."

Automated red light technology is a set of video cameras designed to tape only drivers who are in the process of running red lights. Additionally, the system delays cross traffic to prevent collisions while the offense is in progress.

The system allows police to ticket vehicle owners without being present at the intersection. Cameras record a five-second clip only when they sense that a driver is going too fast or has not slowed in time to stop for a red light.

Police can review the clips to determine if there were extenuating circumstances causing a driver to run a red light, such as an approaching emergency vehicle or rain-slickened roads. Vehicle owners who have been issued a citation also can review the clip and protest the citation.

Discovering the problem

Vienna installed its first video camera in June 1999. The city now has three active cameras and just signed a contract to add cameras at three more intersections by February.

Vienna Police Chief Dan Boring said the city had significant problem with drivers running red lights and causing accidents.

"We knew we had a problem, but we didn't know how bad it was," said Boring, who became police chief in 1997. "We didn't know how bad the problem was until the red light technology started giving us that information."

Boring said that at the end of 1997, Vienna police officers had written 100 citations to red light runners. The city received a highway safety grant in 1998, which allowed officers to work overtime enforcing red light violations. They wrote 200 citations during that time.

Between June and December 1999, the first six months of having the videotaping system, the city issued more than 1,440 red light citations using the technology. And the first full year of operation, with cameras at three intersections, the city issued 3,200 citations using the system.

Contesting citations

Boring said the number of red light violations also has gone down slightly each month since they started using the system.

With Vienna's system, citations are issued to the registered owner of the vehicle caught on tape -- not the actual driver -- because under Virginia law, there is a presumption that the registered owner is the driver. The fine for running a red light is a $50 civil penalty, but there are no court costs, and no points are added to the driver's record.

Red light citations issued by the Vienna system take about two weeks to reach the driver. When the system records a driver running a red light, Boring said, the video clip and other information are sent directly to the police department, where an officer checks the system a couple times a day.

"Unfortunately, that's where the electronic part stops," Boring said, explaining that a disk of the offending vehicle's license plate number is mailed to the state department of motor vehicles to get owner registration information.

To contest citations, vehicle owners must send in an affidavit and swear they were not the driver at the time of the offense. The charges are dismissed.