Red-light camera system behind schedule

So it turns out the city's ultra-modern red-light camera system isn't as far along as everyone thought it would be — nearly two months after the first cameras were installed, the city's still trying to figure out what company will run the cameras. Meanwhile, you can still run the lights where cameras are installed without getting an official citation — and that's a lucky break for a lot of drivers, as it turns out:

The red light camera testing ended last Friday and the results are staggering. At just four intersections in midtown and downtown, over 2,800 vehicles were photographed running red lights. Of that number, Houston police determined 633 motorists committed clear violations. Those violators were mailed warning citations. HPD says that's an average of 20 vehicles a day at each location.

Two of the cameras have been removed, but two remain at Milam and Jefferson and at San Jacinto and Texas. HPD expects to pick a vendor for the camera system this month and have 50 cameras up and running by March.

(As a sidenote, KTRK's story on the red-light cameras contained this puzzling statement: "Many Houstonians consider running red lights more of a necessity than a violation. That's a distinction that continues to go officially unchecked." Um, yeah — we've tried getting out of tickets that way before, and the officer seemed to have checked the distinction quite thoroughly.)