California: Cops Reject Red Light Camera Sales Pitch

California: Cops Reject Red Light Camera Sales Pitch
Monterey Park, California chooses engineering improvements at intersections over the installation of red light cameras.

Monterey Park PoliceAt least sixty-eight cities in the state of California have accepted what is an increasingly irresistible sales presentation from red light camera vendors such as Texas-based ACS and Australia's Redflex. These companies approach local officials and police departments offering substantial revenue with no strings attached and no effort required on the part of police. Monterey Park is one of the handful of cities to reject the pitch.

"The company told us we have a red-light running problem," Monterey Park Police Sergeant David Elliott told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. "They said we had 300 people run the light over three days."

After examining photographs from a trial red light camera set up in the city, Elliott concluded that only two of them represented offenses for which a human police officer would issue a citation. The rest were split-second technical violations visible only to a camera lens. A statewide audit of photo enforcement programs showed split-second violations accounted for as many as 88 percent of tickets issued.

"I gave the system its due, and it showed it wasn't something that would benefit the community," Elliott said.

Monterey Park has chosen instead to make a number of engineering improvements known to yield substantial safety benefits, including adjusting signal timing.

Other cities have rejected light cameras after having tried the program for some time. Cupertino dropped the devices in 2004 saying the safety results were, "mixed at best." Fresno dropped them in 2005 and Santa Rosa in 2000 because they did not bring in enough revenue. Irvine dropped cameras in 2001.

Source: Photo finish for drivers (San Gabriel Valley Tribune (CA), 11/11/2006)

First of all: There are two red light cameras in Santa Rosa (the closest big city to me) and both of them are deactivated and have been for a while. Turns out they cost more to run then they did on the revenue for the tickets made. Why? Because in California running red lights is very very rare. On the east coast it happens all the time, like every other light a car goes through the red.

In California, mainly in So Cal, people have issues stopping in the middle of an intersection, then when the light changes they can't move and it just makes hell for traffic.


Oh and btw when I say east coast I mean NY, because it is all I have really been to.


Out here I might see a car run a red light once every 6 months. It is really that rare.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by StlouisX50

Monterey Park PoliceAt least sixty-eight cities in the state of California have accepted what is an increasingly irresistible sales presentation from red light camera vendors such as Texas-based ACS and Australia's Redflex. These companies approach local officials and police departments offering substantial revenue with no strings attached and no effort required on the part of police. Monterey Park is one of the handful of cities to reject the pitch.

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It's funny, Revenue and Police mix very well, kind of like Rum and Coke Cola :roll:
RR

Smart move by that California town.

The whole state of Virginia ditched red light cameras after 10 years of use because Virginia's study showed the cameras actually made the intersections more dangerous and the legislature voted to not re-authorize red light cameras for use.

Are there any red light cameras that are functional in CA? I know a few in San Mateo are, but what about the rest? I also know the ones on the expressway intersections are merely traffic monitoring cameras(which you can view via the counties websites). I see cameras on almost every signal post in Campbell and Los Gatos. I hunted around for listings online to no avail.