Marysville's 3rd, F streets to get collision avoidance system June 07, 2011 11:14:51 PM By Nancy Pasternack/Appeal-Democrat [Marysville] The Marysville City Council gave the go-ahead Tuesday for installation of a collision avoidance system at Third and F streets. Redflex Traffic Systems, the company that operates the city's red-light cameras, also will operate the new device. Redflex's Intelligent Collision Pre-emption System, part of the city's contract with the company, predicts when a motorist is likely to try unsuccessfully to beat a yellow light, and automatically freezes red lights in all other directions until the intersection is clear. The device, according to the council's resolution, "is intended to reduce potential accidents by delaying the start of a green signal in the event of a red light violation." Only city intersections are eligible for such devices since Caltrans officials control the timing of traffic lights on state highways. The council considered Tuesday the fact that national and state codes authorizing such devices to be installed currently differ. The National Manual of Traffic Control Devices permits changes to the timing sequence of traffic lights in order to allow for safety devices while the California manual does not. Police Chief Wally Fullerton called the discrepancy, "more an administrative issue than an issue of safety." Further reassurance from city attorney Brant Bordsen and an engineer's report funded by Redflex convinced the council to go ahead with installation. "If it were likely to cause an accident, then we would be worried," he said. But, Bordsen added, "it would avoid collisions, so who's going to complain?" The engineer's report addresses the code discrepancy by quoting a member of the state's Traffic Control Devices Committee, which asserted the national codes will likely be adopted by California before the end of the year. "We pushed Redflex to produce this," said Fullerton of the engineer's report. "California runs quite a ways behind the national manual (code book)," said Dave Lamon, city services director. Redflex is likely to install the device within the next month, Lamon said. It will monitor the speed of eastbound traffic on F Street prior to a red-light sequence at Third Street. The council adopted the resolution 4-0. Councilman Dale Whitmore, who opposed the device's installation at a previous council meeting due to a dearth of previous trials of the product elsewhere, was not present. Read more: https://web.archive.org/web/20120121054314/http://www.appeal-democrat.com/articles/city-107415-system-collision.html#ixzz66AhiUX5E