Cameras to Put Local Motorists on Red Alert

One flash and you suspect you’re in trouble.

Several weeks later, a letter from the Police Department confirms it: You’ve been caught, and here’s the photographic proof.

Some Los Angeles drivers can expect that scenario beginning later this month, when cameras are placed at four high-volume intersections, including one in the San Fernando Valley, to reduce the number of drivers who speed through red lights.

Law enforcement agencies say cameras have helped reduce red-light violations in cities such as Beverly Hills, Oxnard and San Francisco by at least 40%.

“I expect we will see similar numbers, but I would like to break all the records,” Los Angeles City Councilwoman Laura Chick said. “Photo enforcement is another tool that is proven to be extremely effective in reducing accidents, and I have no doubt it will do the same here.”

After two years of negotiations, the city agreed on a contract with Lockheed Martin IMS, which operates 80% of the photo enforcement programs in the United States.

A single camera will be placed at one intersection in each of the city’s four geographic Los Angeles Police Department patrol bureaus. The locations are Sherman Way and Winnetka Avenue in Winnetka; Wilshire and Westwood boulevards in Westwood; 3rd Street and Vermont Avenue in Koreatown; and Imperial Highway and Figueroa Street in South-Central. Cameras will be installed by June at 12 more intersections, but those locations have not yet been determined.

“It’s been proven at nearly every location where a camera has been mounted that there is a dramatic decrease in accidents,” said Sgt. John Gambill, who heads LAPD’s photo enforcement team. “This problem is second only to speeding. I think it’s a lot more serious than people realize.”

Red-light offenses caused more than 800 deaths and 200,000 injuries in 1999 nationally, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a research group supported by auto insurers.

Red-Light Runner Will Trigger Camera

Over the last five years there have been nearly 12,000 red-light accidents in Los Angeles, resulting in 73 deaths, police said.

More than half of Americans surveyed by the Federal Highway Administration admit to running red lights. Of those polled, 96% worry they will get hit by someone driving through a red light.

Mounted on a pole and accompanied by a sign, a camera is triggered only when a motorist enters an intersection against a red light. Those who enter during a yellow light or exit on a red won’t receive a ticket.

The cameras are programmed to shoot at least two pictures, which are analyzed by a Lockheed technician before being referred to police. In order for a citation to be mailed, a picture must clearly show the driver’s face and front license plate. Between 30% and 40% of alleged offenders escape citations because of unusable photos.

Some motorists cover their face as they zip through an intersection, while others do not have a front license plate. Because having a front plate is required under state law, police cracked down on Valley motorists in June, issuing nearly 600 warnings over a two-week period on Winnetka Avenue alone.

While cameras have been used for years by law enforcement agencies in Australia, France and England, acceptance has been slower in the U.S., amid complaints that they invade privacy.

“Bit by bit our civil liberties are being diminished,” said Michael Klein, an attorney who sits on the board of the American Civil Liberties Union, Southern California chapter. “It’s a gradual reduction of our own privacy. The camera plan makes no sense except it makes money for the city and it’s cheaper than hiring more police officers.”

Currently, photo enforcement cameras are permitted in only 10 states.

The state with the highest rate of fatal red-light collisions is Arizona, according to a national study. Phoenix, Mesa and Tucson rank among the four worst cities in the country. Los Angeles ranks 14th.

California is viewed as a leader in the photo enforcement effort, with 10 of the nation’s 50 participating cities.

“We have just scratched the surface,” said Michael Flaherty, chief operating officer of municipal services for Lockheed Martin. “In other parts of the world, this technology is commonplace. It’s such a natural from a safety perspective.”

The cameras will cost the city virtually nothing, because Lockheed will pay for installation and maintenance. The company will receive about one-third of each $271 ticket for a red-light offense, according to the contract. From its share of the ticket revenue, the city may reap upward of $5 million for the general fund during the first year of operation, Gambill said.

Yet, proponents said safety, not economics, comes first. When the program was launched at three intersections in Beverly Hills, Lockheed predicted a 40% drop in red-light violations in the first year, said Lt. Al Munoz-Flores of the Beverly Hills Police Department. In fact, the number of violations has dropped by more than half since the program’s inception three years ago. The Beverly Hills City Council has since approved five more cameras.

“We are very pleased with our results,” Munoz-Flores said. “I don’t see this program as one of enforcement but rather one of education. When people see these cameras, they generally aren’t going to push the envelope.”

Accidents Reduced 22% in Oxnard

The first city in Southern California to adopt the photo enforcement program was Oxnard. The cameras were posted at 11 intersections, resulting in a 22% reduction in red-light accidents after the first year of the program, officials said.

The program has been operating for two years in San Diego, where local television and radio talk show hosts have been critical, claiming the cameras are intrusive and unreliable.

Citations have also been challenged in court. A San Diego judge threw out a red-light citation in April, noting that the speed evidence documented by the camera was inadmissible under the state’s speed-trap law. City attorneys argued that the law didn’t apply, because the ticket was issued for running a red light, not for speeding. The case was never appealed.

According to San Diego police, cameras caught 3,500 motorists at one location near San Diego International Airport for red-light violations in June alone.

“For the most part, the people we hear from the most are the ones who complain,” San Diego Police Sgt. Ernest Adams said. “They get the most notoriety. They complain about their tickets, but the answer is simple: Stop at the light.”

Los Angeles police realize the debate over the cameras will intensify once they are installed. It will take some time to get used to, they say, but in the long run it will do more good than harm.

“We are fully anticipating this program will be a success,” Chick said. “We’re already thinking about expanding the program, but first we have to get it up and running.”

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Caught in the Act

Video cameras will be places at 16 intersections in Los Angeles to photograph evidence of motorists who run red lights. Four will be installed later this month. including one at Sherman Way and Winnetka Avenue in Winnetka.

Crashes at L.A. Signals

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YEAR ACCIDENTS FATALITIES 2000* 1,653 8 1999 2,989 17 1998 2,965 15 1997 2,757 14 1996 3,098 19

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*Through July 31

How the cameras work

A car entering the intersection after the light turns red passes over loops buried in the pavement and trips the camera, which can snap photos in any weather, day or night. Cars making legal right turns or stopping just past the limit line are not photographed.

Sources: California Highway Patrol, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Lockheed Martin IMS, Los Angeles Police Department