The idea, which the Woodburn City Council directed staff to proceed with at its June 22 meeting, is to increase safety at the intersection, which police say is hard to patrol.

Woodburn Police Department (WPD) Acting Police Chief Charlie Blevins said part of what makes that intersection so difficult is the concrete median. Additionally, the high volume of traffic creates extra safety hazards.

“If you’ve ever been on a police motorcycle and try to go out and actually chase down a red light violator at an intersection like (Hwy) 214 and (Hwy) 99, good luck,” said Blevins. “You’re lucky if you escape with your life.

“If they see you coming and you can’t get through the intersection, they’re gone.

“They’ll take the first side street and pull into a driveway and duck down, or they’ll even run from you.”

The video systems will help with overall safety, Blevins said.

“These (video systems) prevent pursuits, they prevent all of that trying to hurry up … putting officers at risk and putting other drivers at risk,” he said.

City Administrator Scott Derickson, who will begin due diligence on the project in the coming weeks, stressed the systems are not intended to raise funds for the city. In fact, he said, it is their hope nobody will get a ticket.

“The city is not putting this forth as a way just to generate revenue,” said Derickson. “That’s one of the accusations that has happened in other communities. … We’re trying to increase safety at our intersection.”

The video systems are funded entirely by violator citations, with the initial investment and setup costs being picked up by the company that administers the equipment.

That private company is then paid on a per citation basis, requiring no fixed costs from the city.

Dawn Davis, regional sales manager for Redflex Traffic Systems, said the systems have been shown to have a “huge” impact on modifying driver behavior.

The sales manager, who gave a presentation to the council on June 22, talked about a “halo effect,” where drivers know a red light camera is at one intersection and start changing their behavior throughout town. Once a system is successfully installed, she said, the majority of citations are from transient or out-of-town traffic.

Davis gave the example of the city of Beaverton, where she said injury accidents have reduced by 67 percent since the systems were implemented.

“It’s like having a police officer sitting there 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” she said.

The video technology records a 12-second video clip of the driver, six seconds before and six seconds after the violation.

The system is only triggered when the light is red before the car hits the limit line, never on a yellow, Davis said.

The citation first goes to Redflex, or whichever company gets the city contract, where it is reviewed by three sets of eyes to confirm the violation occurred and that it is presentable.

Things like funeral processions, emergency vehicles, poor views of the driver, or extreme weather are thrown out.

The rest are then sent to Woodburn police to be reviewed and issued, before being sent to the driver.

At that point, the driver can view four still images of the incident, which include a driver close-up, or go online to watch the full video.

“A lot of my concerns were put to rest when I learned that an actual police officer authorizes the issuance of a ticket based on the video evidence, and that it’s just not an automatically generated and automatically mailed citation,” said Derickson.

As with citations issued by live police officers, the violator then has the option to either pay the fine immediately or go to court to contest it.

“If they want to fight the ticket, the procedure for doing so is really not stopped at all,” said Woodburn councilman Jim Cox, who recently watched another presentation about the system.

Cox said the information he got heavily persuaded him.

“I’m a card-carrying ACLU member and I was a little concerned about the wrong person getting a ticket,” said Cox. “All those questions were answered to my satisfaction … and I’m a believer now. … I don’t see any potential for abuse on this thing.”

Councilman Dick Pugh, who also watched a recent presentation, spoke in favor of the video systems too.

“I had a mind change,” said Pugh. “I’m 100 percent for it.”

The video systems use high-quality, color images, said Derickson.

“I was under the impression that we would have kind of grainy, black and white photos and really what we have is a fairly sophisticated system,” he said.

Beyond red lights, the technology can be used to evaluate traffic accidents, rather than having to piece together witness testimonies.

At this point, the systems can’t be used for other violations like safety belts infractions, although that would be an option in the future.

Eventually, according to Blevins, the hope is to install the video systems at other intersections throughout town. Suggestions have included Lincoln Street and 99E; Young Street and 99E; and Settlemier Avenue and Highway 214.

The city council held a public hearing on the subject Monday night and nobody spoke, either in favor or against the project.

Derickson said the city will host an open house to talk more about the issue, as well as hold another public hearing before an ordinance is adopted.

It is likely the systems will take 24 months to permit and install before they are in active use.

Blevins said he thinks the project will be particularly helpful during the economic downturn, where budgets are tight for extra officers.