Cameras change traffic signals; they're not watching you

Those video cameras sprouting atop Carson City traffic signals aren't watching you. They're merely moving traffic.

Installation of the cameras at several intersections has prompted a flood of phone calls to city offices from people worried that Big Brother might be peering into their vehicles.

"It was a little unnerving," said one motorist who noticed the camera's eye pointed at her when she stopped at Carson and William streets. "It was kind of like going to the ATM and realizing there's a camera watching you."

But Big Brother isn't watching anyone, at least not from atop Carson City traffic lights. The devices are video motion detectors, not video cameras.

"This is widespread technology installed all over the world," said Doug Jong, signal system technician for the Carson City Street Department. "Every city I've installed these in, this was the first reaction."

In preparation for a $3.27 million overlay project for Carson Street, the Nevada Department of Transportation is replacing wire traffic detectors, or loops, embedded in Carson Street with video detection devices. Carson City crews will maintain the system after its installation.

While some people fear the cameras could be used for surveillance, Jong said they couldn't be used to watch people even if the city or state wanted to.

The devices are cameras, although they can't tilt, zoom or even record, Jong said.

The cameras send a black and white video feed to traffic signal cabinets on street corners. They serve as motion detectors to let the signal know when traffic is coming.

The cameras can detect different types of vehicles from cars to trucks with trailers to allow the proper amount of time for each vehicle to make it through an intersection.

The cameras also allow traffic signal technology to keep up with the changes in the automobile industry.

The loops embedded in the pavement are basically a chunk of wire with a low voltage electrical charge running through them, creating an inductive field similar to a magnetic field, Jong said. When metal goes over the wire it disrupts the field, sending a signal that something has approached the traffic light.

Newer cars are increasingly being made of synthetic materials that are harder for the loops to detect. Bicyclists and motorcyclists are also difficult for the loops to detect. Not so for the video system.

"This is a lot smarter," Jong said.

Where loops are set in one place in the ground, Jong can use a computer to choose the amount of area in which traffic can be detected.

About 17 intersections have or will have the new video detection system, which has a $675,000 price tag. Installation of the new system should finish in about two weeks.

With the new video system, the state is also installing an Opticom system for emergency service vehicles.

Carson City Fire Chief Lou Buckley said the system will allow fire trucks, ambulances and other necessary vehicles to send a signal in an emergency that would change the stop light, getting traffic moving in the right direction and keeping emergency vehicles from moving into oncoming traffic and intersections.

Buckley estimated the system costs $5,000 per intersection. He said no money is available now to outfit city emergency vehicles with the equipment to trigger the Opticom system.