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Warnings planned for red-light cameras By SARAH LEMON Medford motorists will have plenty of warning to help them avoid getting caught on camera speeding or running red lights, police say. The Oregon Department of Transportation plans to erect signs next month on major roads into Medford informing drivers that traffic regulations are enforced using cameras. State law requires such postings, already in place in Beaverton, said Medford police Deputy Chief Ron Norris. The city will manufacture the signs, and ODOT will post them on north and southbound Interstate 5 interchanges, Highways 62, 99, 238 and Table Rock Road, said John Vial, ODOT district manager. The signs are the first visible step toward photographic policing in Medford, coming more than two years after the city first told the public it planned to introduce red-light cameras at busy intersections. The cameras, to be erected at intersections at Biddle and McAndrews roads and Riverside Avenue and Barnett Road, should be up by January, Norris said. But drivers will have plenty of warning before the cameras and a roving radar-equipped van are put to use. "It's not going to be a sneak attack at all," said Medford police Sgt. Bob Hansen. In addition to signs on major routes into the city, there will be notices in front of the van and at the intersections selected to pilot the red-light cameras, Hansen said. The van, originally to be put into use by the end of September, now will most likely be ready to patrol sometime between the middle of November and the end of the year, Hansen said. It will be equipped with a laser radar system that shoots a beam out the back window of the van. A digital camera will take photos of vehicle license plates and drivers. A police officer will work inside the van but, with the new equipment, won't have to pursue speeders. APAC Technologies, a Dallas-based company that specializes in photo radar systems, will prepare the traffic citations and mail them to offenders, said Norris. The firm is in the process of establishing an office on Crater Lake Avenue, he said. APAC will supervise installing red-light cameras, but the city must select a contractor to do the work, Norris said. The devices will be on top of poles positioned so they can photograph vehicles' front and rear plates, he said. In addition to the two already chosen, two other intersections eventually will get the green light to pilot the red-light cameras. A Federal Highway Administration study reported last year that red-light cameras cut violations by up to 60 percent. Norris said Medford's program costs should be covered by citations issued from the photo images. Reach reporter Sarah Lemon at 776-4487, or e-mail [email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.