Thousands ticketed for running the red light in Pueblo
Thousands of people have been cited for running the red light in Pueblo since red light cameras were installed four years ago.
Pueblo Police Sgt. Howard Jackson said the purpose of the cameras is to make the roads safer.
“Their intent wasn’t really to trap speeders as much as it is to reduce the amount of accidents,” he said.
Jackson also said since the cameras are up, officers don’t need to patrol those areas for people running the lights.
Norwood Avenue and Highway 50, Prairie and Northern Avenue, and Prairie and Thatcher Avenue all have red light cameras near the intersections.
“They were identified as incident intersections at the time,” Jackson said.
Since the cameras were installed in 2010 more than 30,000 drivers have run the red light at those intersections, but a little more than 14,000 have been cited. Jackson said not everyone who runs a red light gets a ticket.
“Instances where like an emergency vehicle runs through the light responding to an emergency, we don’t count those, if someone creeps up to the line and doesn’t run the light, we don’t count those,” he said.
The intersection that saw the biggest spike is Northern and Prairie Avenue. So far, close to 2,000 drivers were cited for running the red light.
Shawn Hernandez works near the intersection. He said that part of Pueblo is one of the busiest intersections in the city and there are always vehicles running the red light.
Hernandez also said he has seen accidents from the intersection.
“We saw a guy hit the median here just trying to beat the lights,” he said.
Jackson said the reason why the numbers are so high is because the cameras were installed late last year and whenever there are new cameras the numbers will spike. But he said based off what he has seen from the other red light cameras, the numbers tend to go down after a year.
The Pueblo Police Department has collected more than $500,000 from citations given out for running the red light since 2010.
“The money that goes toward these red light cameras pretty much goes back to paying for these red light cameras,” Jackson said.
If you’re caught on camera running a red light in Pueblo you’ll get a $75 ticket.
