At the March 19, 2009 Little Elm Town Council meeting, American Traffic Solutions provided Town Council with the Red-Light Camera evaluation study report performed from August 1, 2008 through January 22, 2009. The report concluded there are four-intersections with double digit violations and in some cases up to 27 violations during an 8-hour period.

Town Council asked Chief Rhodes his thoughts about installing Red-Light Cameras, “the Police Department is at a point where we need to be creative in terms of improvising to supplement our limited resources”. Rhodes said, “There are other factors to consider such as, lack of police officers to keep up with the increased growth and town annexation that has created an increase in police calls for service, especially accidents. We simply can not maintain police presence on Hwy 380 as much as we would like to.” In 2008, Little Elm Officers responded to 246 accidents.

Rhodes went on to say that while there are skeptics about cities that have Red-Light Cameras there are many others who appreciate law enforcement efforts toward reducing accidents, many of which are caused by drivers running red lights. “When police officers and firefighters respond to a fatality accident we get to see the loss of life up close, and all because someone either carelessly or aggressively ran a red light. Honestly, I don’t believe those who are skeptical about red-light cameras really believe its ok to run red lights, I hope.” Rhodes said.

Based on the Violation Incident Monitoring System Site Date Report, we have decided to install Red-Light cameras at 4-interesctions where the highest numbers of violations were recorded. The installation process will occur approximately four months from now. The Town will advertise the placement of cameras prior to their installation.

Reprinted with permission from The Town of Little Elm.