Council likely to give green light to red light camera project
CITY HALL It’s a question that every driver must ask themselves when approaching a yellow light: Should I slow down or speed up?
Those who chose the latter could soon find in their mail box a $380 ticket (which includes court costs and a penalty assessment) and a point deducted from their drivers’ license as the City Council looks to install red light cameras as part of a one year pilot project.
The council is expected to decide tonight whether or not to move forward with the estimated $171,900 experiment, which police officers believe will significantly reduce accidents at intersections where the cameras will be installed.
The intersections that would be targeted if the project is approved have not yet been identified, said Councilman Bob Holbrook, who raised the need for the cameras at a council meeting in March.
“I think the council’s really in favor of doing this,” Holbrook said.“We are all seeing a lot of red light running. It really has become a problem and a lot of the running is being done by the same people over and over again.”
Holbrook hopes installing cameras at three intersections will be enough to force people to stop and does not see the need to blanket the entire city in order to have an impact.
Studies have shown that the cameras do work. The Texas Transportation Institute. In a study released in January 2005, found that intersections equipped with cameras saw a 40 percent decrease in violations. They also found that cameras had a “halo” effect, where nearby intersections also saw a drop in violations — Dayton, Ohio reported a 9 percent drop in accidents at all city intersections after launching a red light program.
That said, red light cameras have been controversial, with many motorists coming out against them, claiming the technology has not been perfected and is an invasion of privacy. Some have suggested making yellow lights longer.
Their have been lawsuits challenging the use of the cameras, saying they violate a constitutional right to due process. Some cities have stopped using the cameras because of the cost of fighting lawsuits.
In a report completed by the California State Auditor in 2002, their legal counsel advised that a literal reading of the state law limits the photographs taken by red light cameras for enforcing traffic signal violations.
However, some law enforcement agencies have asserted that other legal principals permit the usage of the photographs in criminal investigations.
The City Attorney would have to review the legal findings in the event a red light camera system is adopted, said officials with the Santa Monica Police Department.
Red light cameras are positioned at intersections in such a way that they can capture images of cars, their drivers and their license plates if a motorist enters an intersection when a traffic light turns from yellow to red. Some cameras are capable of making a short video clip that captures the full violation, a better way of confirming that a driver did run a red light.
SMPD officials said the photo system is not indiscriminate in nature and captures only the specific drivers and vehicles that violate the law. Any passengers in the vehicle are not contained in the photograph.
That said, resident Julie Rosa said she still does not like the idea of installing cameras because she feels they are a violation of her right to privacy.
“I think it would be terrible,” Rosa said as she stood near the corner of Broadway and Seventh Street. “It’s Big Brother watching you. We’re watched enough as it is. We don’t need any more cameras.”
Rosa’s friend Asha Gurung was on the opposite side of the debate. She believes red light cameras will help decrease the number of drivers running red lights and in turn will protect motorists and pedestrians.
“Cameras can go in places where cops can’t go,” said Gurung, who sells incense, candles and other items at her shop on Broadway near Lincoln Boulevard. “I see a lot of people running red lights and it really makes it dangerous for those who are trying to cross the street.”
Gurung suggested placing cameras at intersections not heavily patrolled by officers, like on Pico Boulevard just east of Santa Monica College, where she said she sees plenty of red light violators.
That National Highway traffic Safety Administration reported that in 2000 more than 2.8 million intersection-related crashes occurred — representing 44 percent of all reported crashes. Motorists were also found to be injured in red light violation crashes more often than in any other type of crash. These numbers included about 8,500 fatalities and almost one million crashes involving injuries that occurred at or within a short distance from an intersection.
The cost for intersection-related crashes is approximately $40 billion a year, according to the Federal Highway Administration.
In Santa Monica, the number of accidents caused by red light violators reached 73 in 2006, representing 3.9 percent of total accidents. That was down from a year ago when 95 accidents were caused by those failing to stop for a red light.
If cameras are installed, an SMPD employee would be responsible for reviewing images to determine if a violation occurred. The officer would then authorize a vendor to print and mail the citation, or reject a violation and have it removed from the system. The officer would also be required to testify in court.
The cost of operating a red light camera system varies depending on the number of violations. Equipment vendors vary in their costs depending on the options selected and the number of intersections monitored. Some vendors offer a “no cost” program whereby the cost for the equipment is a flat rate and if the revenue generated from a particular intersection does not pay for the cost of the equipment, the cost is adjusted to a break even amount or the apparatus in question is moved to a different intersection.
Current law forbids vendors from receiving a monetary percentage of each citation issued and it must be based on a flat rate, SMPD officials said.
Until a vendor is selected, the actual cost to the city is unknown, yet city staff estimates the minimal cost would be $171,900. Nearly $128,000 of which will be spent on salary for the police officer manning the system.
There are currently 20 local governments using automated red light enforcement and they include the city and county of Los Angeles, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Long Beach, Oxnard, Ventura and Garden Grove.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 25, 2007. Read the original PDF.