Five Twin Cities intersections should be safer for drivers, but more expensive for red-light runners, as a radar camera program kicks off in the next couple of weeks.

Crews are installing red-light camera systems at five secret intersections around Lewiston and Auburn.

Cars entering an intersections under a red light and going faster than 12 mph trigger the radar camera.

The camera will take one picture just before a car enters the intersection, noting the car’s speed and the amount of time the light has been red. The system takes a second picture less than a second later, when the red-light runner is in the middle of the intersection.

Workers from PEEK Traffic in Palmetto, Fla., will download the photographs four or five times per day, removing bad or unclear photos. The rest will be sent to the Auburn and Lewiston police, and officers will match license plates in the photographs with data from the state Bureau of Motor Vehicles database and send the car’s owner a notice in the mail.

The Androscoggin Transportation Resource Center will study whether the cameras change driving habits.

The center brought in engineers from the University of Maine to study each intersection, look over police reports and count cars that ran red lights.