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Camera locations undecided By JIM DAVIS Medford police would like to install red-light cameras at some of the city's major intersections by next spring. But where those cameras will be placed still has not been decided, said Medford police Lt. Tim George. Police will use statistical data to place the cameras where accidents caused by red-light running are most frequent, George said. "I would think that (the intersection at) McAndrews and Biddle would be a gimme," he said. "That intersection has one of the highest accident rates in the city." Medford police give out about 100 tickets per month for red-light runners and police estimate there are a dozen violators for Highway Safety. Fatal crashes at intersections with traffic signals have risen 24 percent, from 1,888 in 1992 to 2,344 in 1997. d`Red-light running is an extension of the kind of aggression we're seeing more and more in everyday life," said Richard Retting, a traffic safety engineer at the Insurance Institute. "People in a hurry tend not to want to stop if they have the choice. The tradeoff is somebody saves a few seconds, but increasingly puts someone else at risk." An Insurance Institute study found that red-light violations dropped 40 percent in Fairfax, Va., and Oxnard, Calif., after cameras were introduced in 1996 and 1997, respectively. Police in Howard County, a wealthy suburb of Baltimore and Washington, D.C., found the number of red lights run at four intersections dropped 57 percent five months after cameras were introduced last year. At one intersection, collisions dropped from 15 in 1997 to eight last year. "It's a very effective, sustained program for changing driving behavior to make roads safer," said Lt. Glenn Hansen, who runs the county's program. "It frees up officers to handle other needs." A camera snapped 75-year-old John Lobell's picture as he drove to a church meeting in Howard County last year. He thought the light was yellow, until he opened the mail two weeks later. "There's no questioning it," he said. "There's nobody to argue with." "I think it's a wake-up call to all of us to slow down and pay more attention to traffic," he said. What if a lead-footed friend borrows the car and runs a red light? In Maryland, as in most states, drivers can go to court and testify they weren't behind the wheel. In New York, the registered owner is liable. At busy intersections, the money can add up. Howard County's cameras generated at least $1.37 million between February 1998 and May 1999. Baltimore's six red-light cameras have issued more than 9,500 tickets -- adding up to $700,000 in fines -- in less than six months. The 30 cameras on the clogged streets of New York generate about $8 million in annual gross revenue and about $1.5 million in profits for the city, according to Jack Fleming of EDS. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA