Dodger Tickets : They’ll Cost Drivers $104 if Cameras Catch Them Racing Under Blue Line Gates

Determined to discourage drivers from breaking the law, transit officials are about to begin photographing some in compromising positions.

Specifically, those who speed under the crossing gates as Blue Line trains approach.

Transit officials are launching a new system Monday that will photograph scofflaw drivers, vehicles, and license plates as motorists race across the tracks. The violators will receive $104 tickets in the mail within 72 hours.

Since it began operating in July, 1990, the Blue Line--running between downtown Los Angeles and Long Beach--has been plagued by accidents caused by motorists and pedestrians scooting beneath the descending crossing gates. So far, there have been 148 accidents, in which 12 people were killed--nine motorists and three pedestrians.

“We hope the new system will raise the concern of the motorist that to cross the intersection (means) they are going to be photographed, and as a consequence, they won’t take the risk,” said Lt. Gary Schoeller of the Transit Services Bureau, which patrols the Blue Line for the Sheriff’s Department.

A computer controlling a high-speed camera, lodged inside a bulletproof box, has been installed on a high pole overlooking two Compton crossings. The system is activated when a train and a vehicle approach the intersection about the same time. Detection loops in the pavement alert the computer when a vehicle has entered the intersection and trigger the camera.

Should the system prove effective, officials said, it will be expanded and utilized at 22 problem Blue Line intersections, as well as at Metrolink commuter train intersections. To install and operate 22 camera systems will cost about $3.4 million.

For each violation, two photographs are taken two seconds apart. The first shows the driver and the second shows the vehicle as it goes through the intersection.

Schoeller and others hope the device will dramatically reduce the number of accidents. Similar gadgets have been used in Southern California and elsewhere to monitor drivers for speeding and running red lights.

The camera approach has only been used once before--in Jonesboro, Ark.--to monitor railroad crossings. In that case, a camera aimed at a crossing used by freight trains is credited with cutting the number of accidents by half, said Al Frisch, a security planning consultant with the Rail Construction Corp., which oversees the design and construction of the system.

The cameras were installed in mid-November at the Compton locations so experts could try out the system. One camera is in use at the Alondra Boulevard and Willowbrook Avenue crossing, and another at Compton Boulevard and Willowbrook.

During the two-month test period, each of the cameras photographed about one violation an hour, said Linda Meadows, manager of system safety with the rail agency.

“One violation per hour is a potential disaster every hour,” said Ray Grabinski, a member of the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission. “When drivers know that the probability of being caught is 100%, they will think twice before violating the law.”

When transit officials first discussed using the camera, concerns were raised about what would happen if someone other than a car’s registered owner was driving.

In that case, said Meadows, “it’s up to the owner to identify the driver of the car; otherwise they do get the citation.”

Officials are also appealing to lawmakers to increase the fine threefold for crossing-gate violators. In Florida, the fine for a similar violation is $1,500. In California, solo drivers who travel in high-occupancy-vehicle lanes are fined $271.