Cities Hope to Keep Electronic Eye on Problem Intersections

Ventura is considering becoming the second city in the county with mounted cameras to snap pictures of drivers who run red lights.

The City Council will decide later this year whether to launch the new traffic-enforcement program by this fall with 20 cameras. Two will be placed near each designated stoplight--one to snap a picture of the driver’s face and the other to record the license plate.

Oxnard has used cameras since 1997 and Thousand Oaks is considering their use. Indeed, more cities around the state, including Beverly Hills, San Diego and San Francisco, are using red-light enforcement cameras and reporting success at both catching scofflaws and reducing accidents.

Oxnard has had one fatality from running a red light since implementing its program, officials said. The year before, there were two deaths.

Also, there were about 75 fewer accidents from running red lights in the two years after the cameras were installed compared with the previous two years, city officials said.

“I think it’s great that the collisions are not creeping back up even though volumes of traffic have increased,” said Joe Genovese, an Oxnard traffic engineer.

Mounted at problem intersections and tripped by sensors buried in the pavement, the cameras snap photographs of cars that dart into the intersection after the light turns red.

The camera is connected to the signal and will not snap pictures until a second or two after it turns red.

City traffic engineer Tom Mericle said Oxnard decided to use the cameras as part of an ongoing effort to reduce traffic accidents.

“Most of the other safety improvements have been done and this is one of the only things left to get the accident rate down,” he said.

Ventura Police Lt. Don Arth said he welcomes the cameras because they will free up patrol officers.

“Red-light violations are the leading cause of traffic accidents and this will encourage people to self-police,” Arth said.

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Drivers will also be more attentive because they may not know where the cameras are located, he said. “It’s like having a sign outside your house saying you have an alarm and no one knows if you really do.”

Because drivers are unclear where the cameras are installed, neighboring Ventura has seen fewer red-light violations since Oxnard began its program, Ventura officials said.

Some drivers may complain about the proliferation of surveillance cameras, but Mericle said red-light cameras have more supporters nationwide than detractors. “In public opinion polls, a high percentage of people believe running a red light puts other people at risk and this is a good system for stopping that.”

He said people largely oppose using cameras to stop speeding on freeways because speeding is perceived as risking the driver alone, not other people.

Oxnard Officer Mike Gregson said all drivers are treated equally with cameras. “You stay away from the race factor or the pretty-girl factor,” he said. “Everyone can get a ticket.”

Like all tickets, the citation can be challenged in court. Successful challenges are likely when the ticket bearer claims the person driving the vehicle is someone else, Gregson said. If the name and license plate number of that person is provided, the violation is sent to the correct person.

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Under state law, the city must send “educational notices” for the first 30 days to alert motorists about the enforcement program. But after that, violators will be fined.

The program will cost more than $3 million to set up, but the Bay Area contractor, Redflex Traffic Systems, will shoulder the costs in exchange for a share of the revenues generated by the tickets. The fine for running a red light is $271.

More than 85% of ticket payments will go to Redflex during the first 18 months, with the percentage falling to about 25% after five years.

Later this month, the city will hold a public hearing on the proposed traffic-enforcement program, Mericle said.