In December, I wrote an article about the red light cameras that Lake in the Hills was installing at the intersection of Randall Road and Acorn.

That’s the intersection that gets one into Lowe’s, the Home State Bank and Ace Hardware.

What interested me then was the difference between the $4,495 per approach versus the $1,500 a month for each “camera” that West Dundee was being charged.

I wondered if the camera would pay its own way.

With two months of violations tally, Lake in the Hills Director of Police and Public Safety Jim Wales told McHenry County Blog that 471 citations had been issues.

Let’s see.

471 times $100 means that $47,100 could be collected.

Of course, some of the tickets won’t be paid, but taking in probably over $20,000 a month means that the $4,495 monthly “nut” will be met easily.

“We anticipate if we are successful we will see those go down,” Wales observed.

There was a huge publicity campaign.

The village sign right south of the boundary of Crystal Lake warned drivers.

There were newspaper articles in every local paper.

And, there are now smaller permanent signs warning people of the program.

“We wanted to make sure there were no surprises,” Wales said.

Did accidents decrease at the intersection?

“It’s way too early to make that conclusion,” Wales explained, but he did point out that in December, there were 13, in January – 9 and four in February.

“I know that accidents have gone up 34% at that location in the last four year,” he said.