Red light cameras have been busting motorists in Colorado Springs for nearly six months now.

Perhaps they will come to your neighborhood someday.

For now, the cops-on-a-pole operate at four intersections:

• North Nevada Avenue and East Bijou Street
• East Platte Avenue and North Circle Drive
• East Platte Avenue and North Murray Boulevard
• Barnes Road and Oro Blanco Drive.

And folks are not happy about them.

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One reader believes the city has shaved a second off the yellow light cycle to catch more cars in the intersection.

Pat Miller said she was shocked how quickly the light at Nevada and Bijou changed from green to yellow to red.

And she was not happy when she got a letter from the city with a photo showing her car exiting the intersection. The photo was attached to a $75 ticket for a red light violation.

So Miller, a retired school teacher, went back and timed all the lights visible along Nevada. She concluded the yellow cycle at Bijou was 25 percent shorter than any other intersection in sight.

Most traffic signals had a four-second yellow cycle while the Bijou yellow shined just three seconds.

The city invested $5,800 per intersection to install the cameras. As of March 21, two officers supervised by a sergeant have issued 5,366 tickets using the red-light cameras.

 If every motorist received a $75 as Pat Miller did, the cameras were a good investment for the city, generating $402,450.

The cameras were installed to combat red light runners, said Dave Krauth, city trraffic engineer.

“I would love to see everyone stop running red lights so we can tear them out,” Krauth said. “Red light runners cause the most serious accidents.”

Consider the hearse I photographed Thursday evening as it drove north on Nevada.

The hearse approached the intersection as the signal was turning red and pedestrians were crossing.

Clearly, the traffic light was  red as the hearse accelerated into the intersection.

Not a problem for our hyper-aggressive hearse driver. Maybe he was trying to drum up business as he made a hard left onto Bijou, lurching wildly. I can only imagine a casket doing a death-roll in the back.

The red light cameras must have gotten a good shot of the hearse because the system’s lights lit the intersection as if it was high noon.

The brain-dead driver never slowed and went roaring west down Bijou.

Here’s a link to a story about a new van the Colorado Springs Police bought to combat speeding.

And here’s an earlier story on the red light cameras.

Got questions about driving? Read for yourself the Rules of the Road in Colorado.

Or read the law: Colorado Revised Statues 42-4-603.

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