Mayor supports red light cameras

Mayor Mark Funkhouser held a conference May 4 to reiterate his support for red light safety cameras.

Funkhouser was joined by Police Board Commissioner Karl Zobrist, Maj. Rosilyn Allen of the Kansas City Police Department, Sugar Creek Police Chief Herb Soule and other local officials.

"Kansas City’s red light safety camera program has been successful in reducing the number red light runners and in increasing safety. We have reduced both the number of tickets issued and the number of accidents at the intersections where red light cameras are installed," Funkhouser said.

"From a public safety perspective these cameras are a resounding success. I would ask the Missouri House to leave this effective program alone."

On April 26, the Missouri Senate passed a bill banning red light safety cameras. Numerous bills have been filed in the Missouri House to restrict their use.

At the end of the first year of Kansas City’s implementation of red light safety cameras, a study showed that wrecks overall had declined 26 percent; injury wrecks fell by 42 percent; rear-end collisions decreased 20 percent at red-light camera intersections; and wrecks caused by red-light runners plunged 67 percent.

Kansas City Police Chief Jim Corwin recently released the most current statistics of the city’s traffic safety program.

A 2009 statewide poll showed two-thirds of Missouri’s registered voters support the use of red light safety cameras, which are funded by violators, not by taxpayers or general revenues.

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