MICHELLE WILLARD and LISA MARCHESONI
Posted: Friday, January 8, 2010 4:39 pm

Red-light cameras may cause a stink in the General Assembly this year.

The city of Murfreesboro jumped ahead of the curve by presenting its data to Rutherford County’s legislative delegation Friday morning.

“I thought it was a very good meeting and hearing about the issues that are important them,” State Sen. Jim Tracy (R-Shelbyville) said about meeting with city officials in the run up to the General Assembly reconvening next week.

One issue of particular concern to the city is growing discontent with red-light cameras in East Tennessee, which will make its way into the General Assembly this year.

Introduced last year, legislation concerning the legality of red-light cameras will come out of summer study committee ready for a vote in the House of Representatives early in the session, State Rep. Joe Carr (R-Lascassas) said.

The legality of red light cameras will come out of summer study and likely will find its way to the floor of the house for a vote.

“What my colleagues in East Tennessee need to do is get their city councils to change their policies instead of the whole state,” Carr said. East Tennessee has seen an uproar stemming from the cameras that send tickets for running lights and failure to stop when turning right on red.

Murfreesboro Police Chief Glenn Chrisman gave an extensive presentation to the delegation covering all aspects of Murfreesboro’s cameras.

Chrisman put special care into the safety aspect and Carr said the presentation will make him look more closely at any pending legislation.

Side-angle crashes decreased while rear-end crashes increased during the past year at intersections where red light cameras were installed, a Murfreesboro Police spokesman said Friday.

Police investigated 189 crashes between July 2008 and June 2009, an increase of 16 crashes from the previous year at red-light camera intersections.

Rear-end crashes increased by 23.5 percent while side-angle crashes decreased 11.2 percent from July 2008 and June 2009, said spokesman Kyle Evans.

From July through December 2009, rear end crashes dropped 18.18 percent.

“Not one driver in any of the crashes indicated the red-light cameras contributed in any way to the crash,” Evans said, blaming the crashes on speeding, being inattentive or following too closely.

Objective of the red light cameras at intersections is to increase the ability to enforce traffic signals and to reduce personal injuries and property damage.

While pleased with the reduced number of side-angle crashes, Evans said police realize it takes about three years to get enough statistical data to show the effectiveness of the cameras.

“We’ll continue to monitor closely and we hope to establish this trend will continue and all our intersections become safer as people adjust their driving behavior to not run red lights,” Evans said.

National studies indicted the city would show more rear-end crashes. He hopes to see a reduction in crashes as the program continues.

Cameras operate at the following intersections:

• Broad and South Church streets.
• Memorial and Northfield boulevards.
• Northwest Broad Street at Northfield Boulevard.
• Old Fort Parkway at Chaffin Lane/Thompson Boulevard.
• Rutherford Boulevard at John Bragg Highway.
• South Church Street and Middle Tennessee Boulevard.

Other topics:
Murfreesboro officials also presented their concerns about up-coming redictricting on the county and state level, as well as road projects and changes to the Tennessee Sunshine Law.

Carr said this will be a tough year for the state will more budget cuts on the horizon.

“We’re going to have to make cuts this year and these cuts are going to affect people’s lives,” he said.