Redflex, the company that owns and manages the cameras, sent an employee to fix the problem shortly after the Springfield News-Sun contacted the Springfield Police Division about the issue.
Springfield Police Lt. Tom Zawada said the cameras will sometimes flash randomly because the company will remotely test them throughout the week to, “ensure the integrity of the program.”
When the cameras take a picture, Redflex first reviews the photo three times to make sure a traffic violation was committed. Then the citations and photos are sent to the Springfield Police Division for a final review.
Zawada said the department has never got a citation from Redflex of someone going through a green light.
Some drivers had safety concerns about the flashing lights, even though drivers going through the intersection this week will most likely not get tickets.
Kitt said the flashing light looked somewhat like a strobe light when he was at the intersection. Rapidly flashing lights can be distracting or cause seizures in a small percentage of people.
“If it’s flashing fast enough to mimic a strobe light, it could definitely cause issues,” he said.
Zawada said he doesn’t believe the flashing light distracts drivers.
Springfield has 17 red-light cameras at 10 intersections.
Juli Springer of the Springfield engineering department said she noticed the camera randomly flashing this week. She said Redflex had someone out working on the camera Friday afternoon.
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