ROBINSON, Texas (KXXV) — Robinson police are using Flock camera technology to monitor semi-truck traffic on residential streets and enforce a city ordinance that limits where large trucks can travel.
WATCH HERE:
The city ordinance states large trucks are only allowed to use local roads if they have a destination within city limits. Police Chief Larry Adams said the city council reviewed its semi-truck policy last month after receiving complaints from residents.
"We were getting a few calls and a lot of facebook comments about it, we were monitoring social media and saw that people were concerned about trucks coming down their streets," Adams said.
Adams said the issue affects more than just safety.
"It's not only a threat to public safety, it's quality of life for the residents here. They don't want to hear semi-truck tractors and trailers driving up and down the residential streets," Adams said.
Flock camera data showed 63 trucks passed camera locations within a 30-day period, with more than half of them appearing to be heading to a destination within city limits. Adams said those numbers are better than expected, but the problem still poses a threat to the community.
"You know these trucks get into locations, and narrow streets where they can't make turns or they impede traffic," Adams said.
The Flock system allows officers to filter camera data by vehicle type and time frame to analyze traffic patterns.
"You can put in a time frame such as 30 days or as far as it can go back, and then you can select- you wanna look for all passenger cars, red passenger cars, or just semi trucks, so in this instance we selected semi trucks from a certain time period and we're able to see how many semi-trucks actually passed that flock camera during that time period," Adams said.
Adams said the technology serves purposes beyond traffic enforcement.
"Flock not only gives us that ability to track or use in criminal investigations, but it allows us to do city planning and analysis, vehicle volumes and that sort of thing," Adams said.
Officers have since checked "no-thru" signs throughout the city to confirm they are still intact and will continue monitoring for violations.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
