Cameras to Snap Red-Light Runners
Beginning today, drivers who run a red light at one of the Valley’s most accident-prone intersections will be photographed and notified of their violations by mail.
City officials on Thursday activated four such cameras citywide, including one at the intersection of Winnetka Avenue and Sherman Way, the site of 40 reported accidents in the past two years.
During a 30-day grace period, drivers will be sent warnings. After Dec. 30, motorists who run a red light in the intersection will be liable for a $271 fine, said John Fisher, assistant general manager for the city’s department of transportation.
Other cameras turned on Thursday were at Wilshire and Westwood boulevards in Westwood, 3rd Street and Vermont Avenue in Koreatown and Imperial Highway and Figueroa Street in South-Cental Los Angeles.
Four additional cameras will be installed by March 1, with eight more scheduled to be working by June 1, Fisher said. Locations for those cameras have not yet been determined.
Cameras have helped reduce red-light violations in Oxnard, Beverly Hills and San Francisco by at least 40%, according to law enforcement agencies. Police say there have been nearly 12,000 red-light accidents in Los Angeles, resulting in 73 deaths, in the past five years.
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