Hey, Sugar Land! Are you ready for those red light cameras you’ve been expecting? Well, ready or not, here they are.
Sugar Land’s three cameras will start snapping pictures Monday, but violators will receive warnings for the first 30 days of the program. The city will start issuing real citations when the grace period ends. The owner of a vehicle photographed running a red light will be subject to a $75 fine.
The cameras are going up at three of Sugar Land’s most congested and busiest intersections: U.S. 59 at Texas 6, U.S. 59 at Williams Trace and Texas 6 at Lexington. Workers have spent the past few days making last-minute adjustments on the cameras.
A fourth camera, to be installed at the intersection of West Airport and Eldridge Parkway, will be delayed while road reconstruction is being done there.
“Because of that it doesn’t make sense to interfere with their construction,” Sugar Land Police Chief Steve Griffith said Monday. He said that camera probably will be working early next year.
City officials hope the red-light cameras will reduce the number of traffic accidents by about 25 percent at the intersections where they city experiences the most.
I’ll look forward to seeing their data as much as I’ve looked forward to seeing Houston’s. In the meantime, drive appropriately.