They’re Watching You

SAN ANGELO, TX — A San Angelo LIVE! reader asked us to look into the suspicious cameras and antennas seen atop the street lights on S. Jackson St.

“Any information on when this was decided?” asked Jace Giese. He attached three photographs of the suspicious cameras and antennas on the traffic light cross bows that arch over intersections on S. Jackson. Giese was wondering if those were camera-operated traffic light ticket apparatuses.

At the City of San Angelo the official who has maintained these traffic lights and streets for years is Shane Kelton, the Public Works Director. Kelton is also the grandson of the famous San Angelo writer of western novels, Elmer Kelton. Anyway…

Kelton said there are no camera-operated ticketing devices atop the City-run traffic lights. Rather, the cameras are connected via a wireless network to provide better traffic control at those intersections.

“The bell-shaped instrument mounted there is part of a vehicle detection system and the disk antenna communicates with the signal control unit,” he said.

It’s not even counting traffic, he said. That would require an expensive software addition to the TCU.

The system detects vehicles to determine which lanes have traffic so the lights can turn green or red more effectively to keep the traffic flowing smoothly, he said. The City also maintains signals across TxDOT roadways, he said.

In other words, the antennas and dishes on San Angelo’s traffic signal poles are not there to write you automatic tickets for running that yellow or red light. Rather, they are there so drivers aren’t sitting at red lights unnecessarily.

In June 2019, new laws went into effect prohibiting the use of red light cameras, otherwise known as photographic traffic signals. Therefore, the City of San Angelo cannot deploy ticket revenue generating traffic cameras.

Thank you Jace for asking us to find out. If you have a question or issue you want us to investigate, please send it to [email protected] and we will look into it.