LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD Austin, Texas FISCAL NOTE, 76th Regular Session March 11, 1999 TO: Honorable Bob Turner, Chair, House Committee on Public Safety FROM: John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board IN RE: HB1152 by Driver (Relating to the authority of a municipality to implement a photographic traffic-control system; providing for imposition of a civil penalty.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted ************************************************************************** * No fiscal implication to the State is anticipated. * ************************************************************************** Local Government Impact Local Government Impact A municipality that would chose to implement a photographic traffic-control system could incur costs associated with the purchase, installation, maintenance and administration of the system. The cost would depend on the number of intersections a municipality would chose to equip with monitoring devices. The equipment cost per intersection is estimated at $50,000 to $60,000. A municipality implementing a photographic traffic-control system would be expected to collect additional fine revenue from red light violators. The revenue would depend on the volume of traffic at an intersection, the rate of violations at a particular intersection, the percentage of violators resulting in the imposition of a civil penalty and a municipality's civil fine collection rate. Based on test site data from the City of Richardson, as many as 1.9 percent of vehicles violate a red light. Assuming only 0.1 percent of vehicles would violate a red light upon implementation of the photographic traffic-control system, assuming 50 percent of violators would be ticketed with the maximum fine of $75 being imposed, and assuming a collection rate of 50 percent, an intersection with 20,000 vehicles per day could yield $136,875 in fine revenue per year. The amount of revenue could be higher, depending on the number of third-time offenders paying penalties up to the maximum $200 per violation. Source Agencies: 601 Department of Transportation LBB Staff: JK, MD