A divided City Council approved funding for red light cameras later that year. The first, and only, cameras went online in May 2004 at 10th Street and Minnesota Avenue. A year before,Argus Leaderemployee Edie Adams had been killed in the intersection after being struck by a car.
Mayor Mike Huether said he would rather have the cameras, because he thinks they made the intersection safer at 10th Street and Minnesota Avenue.
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Although the cameras have been off since last year, Barthel said he thinks theyre still on the minds of many who drive in the intersection. I think there still is a residual effect.
Source: Sioux Falls Police Department
2008:5,132
Sioux Falls officials are ready to give up on efforts to resurrect red light cameras. The City Council will be asked next month to eliminate an ordinance that established the red light cameras.
The number of red-light tickets issued through the use of cameras:
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Road construction closed parts of the intersection during the summer of 2006, leading to fewer fines.
2004:5,458
Sioux Falls officials are ready to give up on efforts to resurrect red light cameras.
2009:4,751
In 2006, Sioux Falls resident I.L. Wiedermann filed a lawsuit, contending the system was unir after he was ticketed. Wiedermann argued that an employee was driving a vehicle registered in Wiedermanns name, and that he should not be responsible for paying the fine. Wiedermanns case eventually made it to Caldwell.
2010:1,684
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To make the changes we need for what Judge Caldwell saw as problems, it might even require a state constitutional change, and not just a change to state statute, said City Attorney Dave Pfeifle.
City officials say they wont try to change state law.
2007:5,045
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Sioux Falls red-light cameras might stay turned off,Howard Rouse crosses the street at the intersection of 10th Strefree street magicet and Minnesota Avenue in Sioux Falls. The intersection was the first in the city to have cameras catching drivers running red lights. / Emily Spartz-Argus Leader/Emily Spartz / Argus Le
The cameras were controversial, both here and in other places that have used them. Nationally, they have been credited for reducing certain types of accidents, such as T-bonings. But theyve also been blamed for increasing other types of accidents, such as rear endings.
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Ill be back out there again so they dont have one anywhere in the state, he said.
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2005:7,717
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The City Council will be asked next month to eliminate an ordinance that established the red light cameras. This follows a court decision last year that found the citys ordinance conflicted with state law.
Fines piled up 5,458 in 2004, a partial year, and 7,717 in 2005. The company that managed the system sent owners of vehicles an $86 ticket. Unpaid tickets were turned over to a collections agency.
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But there was criticism from the beginning. Rental car agencies, car dealerships and others received tickets, even though they werent responsible for running the lights or an illegal turn at the intersection.
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And while the cameras generated more than 34,000 tickets, they were never intended to raise money, Barthel said. As the number of tickets began to ll, the city actually was losing money, with most of the revenue going to the company that operated the system.
Partial years in which the cameras operated
I still think it was and is a good idea, Huether said. But the legal fight, the policy fight, its just too steep of a hurdle.
2006:4,779
During a six-year run, accidents in the intersection fell by a third, Police Chief Doug Barthel said. They definitely served their purpose.
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The debate to bring them to Sioux Falls started in 2002 when former Mayor Dave Munson proposed establishing cameras at various intersections. In May 2002, a consultant analyzed 10 intersections in the city and recorded 1,409 instances of drivers running red lights over a 90-hour period.
Wiedermann has lobbied lawmakers, unsuccessfully, for a statewide ban on cameras. Although Sioux Falls is the only entity in the state to try them, Wiedermann doesnt want them popping up elsewhere.
The cameras have not been used since that June 2010 decision in which Judge Kathy Caldwell ruled that the citys practice of issuing civil fines to the owners of cars conflicted with state law, which stipulates that running a red light is a criminal offense.
