Law Signed Allowing Cameras to Catch Red Light Scofflaws

Cameras monitoring dangerous intersections in several California cities can continue to snap away at motorists barreling through red lights.

Gov. Pete Wilson signed a bill Monday that will indefinitely extend a law authorizing such automated cameras at red lights. The law was scheduled to expire Jan. 1.

“If photographing red light runners leads to a reduction in the number of these incidents, saving even a single life, then it is something that is worth doing,” the Republican governor said in a statement.

A 1995 law created a three-year experimental program to let cities test the use of cameras mounted at intersections.

The cameras are set to go off if a car is in the intersection a certain number of seconds after the light turns red. They take a photo of the car, its license and the driver’s face. The city sends a ticket to the registered owner.

Tickets for running red lights are at least $271.

The law requires cities to announce the system to the public a month before using it and to place signs either at the intersections or at the city limits notifying motorists of the cameras’ presence.

Six months after cameras were mounted at four San Francisco intersections, there was a 42% drop in the number of drivers running red lights. San Francisco plans to increase the number of monitored intersections to 24.

Other cities that have been testing the program are Beverly Hills, Oxnard, El Cajon, Poway and Santa Rosa. Several other cities are planning to try it next year.

The bill had trouble getting through the Assembly, with conservatives comparing it to Big Brother and Nazi Germany. It failed once in April, but was given a second chance and was approved last month, 49-26.