As long as there isn’t an accident, Albany police don’t cite traffic signal violators. Indeed, hiding the truth about the city’s failure to follow traffic laws is so important to the city’s administration that it is withholding public records.
It’s a common scenario for all drivers:
The traffic light turns yellow just as you reach an intersection. In a split second, you must decide whether to stop and keep going.
That’s the moment of truth – particularly in Albany , because we have a police chief who selectively enforces laws, just as his boss only follows certain rules.
That’s right; in Albany, under Chief James Younger, there apparently is zero chance of getting a ticket for running a red light; that is, unless you case an accident.
How did we suspect this phenomenon to be true? Heck, we live here; we know that in Albany , if we drive through the yellow light, there’s a decent likelihood that one, two or even three vehicles to trail right behind us – each of them clearly running the red light. And we know that if we hit the brakes to make sure we don’t run a red light, there’s a great chance of the motorist behind us having to slam the brakes to avoid a rear-end accident.
So, in Albany , folks deliberately run red lights with an uncanny frequency.
Last week, The Albany Journal asked Younger to:
Produce evidence that his officers write tickets for traffic signal violations
Provide the total number of tickets the Police Department wrote during 2005, 2006 and 2007 for traffic signal violations, and the number of tickets the Police Department wrote during that period for traffic signal violations when accidents weren’t involved.
Provide information and perspective on the Police Department’s enforcement of traffic signal violations.
Allow a reporter to inspect red-light violation tickets written during 2005, 2006, and 2007.
Younger and his boss, City Manager Alfred Lott, refused each of the Journal’s requests, the latter of which violates Georgia ’s open records laws, as municipal government records are subject to public inspection within three days of a request being submitted. Evidently, hiding the truth about the city’s failure to follow traffic laws is so important to the police chief and city manager that they withhold public records, which is a misdemeanor crime.
What is the consequence of Albany drivers knowing that there is zero chance of getting a red light ticket unless they cause an accident?
Plenty.
Not only is traveling through Albany intersections particularly exasperating due to lack of traffic-safety enforcement, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says in its publication, “Looking Beyond the Ticket: Traffic Law Enforcement and Beyond,” that proactive traffic enforcement makes roadways safer, reduces crime and improves the quality of life in our neighborhoods.”
Looking beyond the ticket also includes “approaching each traffic stop with objectivity and remaining alert for indicators of criminal activity,” the NHTSA says.
Once upon a time, Peoria , Ill. , was just like Albany . Police officials didn’t grasp the importance of traffic enforcement; like in Albany , they didn’t understand that writing citations isn’t something that should only be done by officers who are being punished. They didn’t understand that stopping people from running red lights does more than make the roads safer.
Indeed, when the Peoria police administration took a long, hard look in the mirror and decided to make traffic enforcement a priority, “something remarkable happened,” Canadian Driver, an online automobile magazine, reported.
Why? Because when officers pulled over motorists for traffic infractions like running red lights, they found weapons, drugs, suspended drivers and wanted criminals.
“In other words, the Peoria police discovered that policing the roads had the unexpected side effect of making the entire safety,” the magazine reported.
Peoria ’s strategy was similar to Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s famous “broken window” approach to law enforcement.
“Built on the belief that small problems lead to larger ones, the strategy focused police efforts not just on serious offences such as murder, assault and robbery, but also on traffic violations, including lesser misdemeanors such as jaywalking,” Canada Driver reported. “The result: In just five years, the city experienced a 44-percent decrease in overall crime, include a 60-percent drop in its murder rate.”
Adding to all of this, of course, is the reality that societal costs of collision are reduced by safer roads and fewer, less severe crashes. While an Ontario study (Traffic-Law Enforcement and Risk of Death from Motor-Vehicle Crashes) shows that for every 80,000 tickets issued, a death is prevented, it also shows that for every 13 tickets written, there’s $1,000 savings in health care costs, property damage and increased insurance collisions.
When it comes to traffic signal violations in Albany , however, Younger’s force can’t possibly look beyond the ticket because it doesn’t even bother to write tickets.
As the federal highway organization says, “Law enforcement executives and officers, elected officials, highway safety advocates, and civic leaders need to understand the relationship between traffic enforcement, crime, and public safety.”
I think they’re talking to us, Albany ; enforcing traffic laws indeed is a very big deal.
We must look beyond the ticket; our citizens’ and visitors’ safety – on and off the road – is at stake.
