L.A. County red-light violation fines have jumped 65% to $446, Times review finds

In less than eight years, fines for red-light traffic violations in Los Angeles County have jumped nearly 65% from an average of $271 to $446.

With traffic school fees, the total now exceeds $500. Ever-vigilant photo enforcement programs run by nearly 30 agencies across the county have added a new degree of efficiency to catching violators and capturing revenue to fund a variety of government programs.

In November alone, Los Angeles County’s Superior Court system processed payments on an estimated 13,000 red-light camera tickets. And local agencies with camera systems generated nearly $1.6 million in revenue, with an even larger portion of the red-light camera fines going to a combination of state and judicial programs, according to the estimates obtained by The Times.

Critics say the fines have become excessive and mainly a means for camera companies and cities to raise money. But some police and traffic officials, as well as motorists, contend the penalties properly reflect the serious injuries, death and property damage that can result from drivers running red lights.

Los Angeles' red-light traffic camera program, which officials report netted more than $6 million last year after expenses, could be significantly expanded under a new contract to be negotiated over the next 14 months.

Although adding more cameras could offer a welcome boost to city revenue in the midst of a fiscal crisis, officials say any expansion will be based on safety considerations.

No goal has been set, but internal City Hall discussions have included the possibility of adding cameras to blocks of eight intersections at a time and eventually doubling the overall reach of the program to 64 intersections, Los Angeles Police Department officials told The Times.

-- Rich Connell

Chart credit: Los Angeles County Superior Court

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Comments

[JD]

It's not hard to enforce traffic laws and fill government coffers. Put a chip in every car, an automatic fine when going 66 on the freeway, or 26 in a school zone. Put cameras at every crosswalk, a fine for crossing an empty street against the light.

With facial recognition software, it's possible to identify people. Even if it's the wrong person, they'll probably pay the fine, because the legal system isn't worth the hassle.

You just have to think these things through.

[abseygale]

Perhaps our city can apply the same efficiency it has toward ticketing, to fixing or replacing failed and dead parking meters in Hollywood. I encountered three failed meters in a row yesterday on Cole Street just south of Sunset. When I called in to report the failed meters, I was read a long legal statement that made it clear I could still be tickets if I parked at one of these meters.

There is a scarcity of parking in Hollywood and the city should do more to make what it has usable. When I go to Beverly Hills, parking is easy. I can use my credit card instead of fishing for a mountain of quarters and the meters always work.

Merchants in Hollywood should demand more from the city. It's hard to do a brisk business when you rely on customers in cars who have no place to park .

[Grumpybearto]

Crooks..Get your house in order before passing back door taxes.

[boris8]

If this is not Big Brother style oppression, I don't know what is. People should not run red lights. But then they should not be caught by a spy camera and forced to pay exorbitant sums which help fund a private company. The public good got lost in all this.

[anon]

If you're driving without a radar detector and a GPS enabled red-light camera/speed trap camera locater, you're just a fish waiting to be caught and filleted.

Red-light cameras et al are just a tax on the poor and/or unprepared.

But I guess someone has to pay to keep city hall open.

[hairycarrion]

Thieves. $500 dollars? I guess that's incentive for those who run red lights to stop running them. But the cameras are not infallible, and in my paranoid mind, I wonder if the fees have gone up because of a little issue called budget deficit.

[Time for a change]

These people are not necessarily running red lights; they may just slightly encroach an empty crosswalk, which will result in a $500 ticket. Even if you legally pull into the crosswalk to make a right turn on a red light, you will be photographed and ticketed. Who's life is being saved by the use of these tactics? More lives are being damaged, particularly those whose take home pay is $500 a week or less, when they can no longer afford to feed their children in order that the already too rich government can waste even more money. But then, they they have the option to do community service for a few weekends and the only loss will be the time they could have spent with their kids.

[Driver]

Don't you think a right turn on red ticket should be less expensive than driving accross the intersection on a red?
80% of tickets are given to right turn violations so I am not sure how much this improves our safety.

[viewer]

Good. We need the money. Let the violaters pay. While you're at it, please increase penalty for running through stop signs.

[foobar1]

Hmmm... If red-light cameras are supposed to be for safety, where are the statistics showing fewer accidents as a result of putting up the cameras?

Also, how come the cameras are put up where they can generate the most revenue, as opposed to saving the most lives?

[Jose Lopez]

Moral of the story...DON"T RUN RED LIGHTS! Oh yeah, goes without saying...and don't find an excuse as to why the camera's aren't working properly, or your being framed, or its not your fault! OWN UP PEOPLE!

[Richard Deight]

Instead of devising new ways to extract money from motorists, Big Brother should address conditions that “justify” red-light cameras in the first place . For over forty years, transportation engineers and planners have known that spacing signals closer than 1/2 mile apart impedes traffic flow and causes gridlock. So do unsynchronized signals.

It is ridiculous that motorists in many areas cannot drive more than a few hundred feet without hitting a red light. In some areas there are signals at almost every side street and shopping center driveway, as government tries to "idiot-proof" more and more intersections. Most are not synchronized for through traffic and have those infuriating left-turn arrows that delay traffic even more.

Inevitably, such overkill creates the congestion it is supposed to fix and encourages speeding and running red lights. The myopic answer is to put up more signals. What about taking some of them down, and going back to simple red-green signals? There was a time, not that long ago, that we didn't have traffic lights and "protected" left-turn arrows at every corner, and traffic actually moved.

Nationwide, studies show that the cameras are money-driven and have virtually no public safety benefit. In fact, they cause accidents. Motorists brake erratically to avoid "running" a light and are rear-ended or hit someone else, or "go for it" to try to beat the light.

Red-light cameras criminalize behavior that is invisible to the unaided eye. The Legislature had to change the law to allow the cameras. In due course, they turned the criminal justice system on its head and sidestepped that “nasty” requirement that you have the right to face your accuser. With red-light cameras, you are presumed guilty until proved innocent.

The reality, of course, is that these tickets cost hundreds of dollars and are a tremendous return on investment. Someone must be making a ton of money or we wouldn't have the cameras.

[James Sullivan]

There is no excuse for running a redlight. The fine should be a $1000 and offenders should have their license suspended for a year.

[Gary]

The people of Los Angeles should just rise up and refuse to pay these dumb fines. The city already fleeces you through taxation, now they take from your for mostly harmless "crimes" like making a right without stopping. Big deal! Just don't pay!! Make them eat the cost of those "big-brother" eye-in-the-sky cameras. JUST DON'T PAY!

[Melvin]

Not noted in the article is how much of the proceeds go to the city and how much of it goes to the private companies that run the system. This is merely another example as how we as a society are privatizing our judicial system and selling it off to private companies.

[Chicolini]

If the program is actually working to reduce red light violations, the only way to maintain or increase revenue is to raise the cost of a ticket and/or install more cameras.

At some point the law of diminishing returns will kick in and the cost of maintaining the cameras will exceed the revenue generated. When that happens expect 'safety' to suffer at the hands of economics.

[Ken]

Cha-Ching!

[MAD as HELL]

The county, for its own lack of financial discipline, has taken the position to rob, criminalize and oppress the people.
Is this the will of the people or the degeneration into tyranny?
The only word that comes to mind is outrage--and I am sure I am not alone.

[Irish Red]

Why not just make the ticket $1000? $2000? That would make accidents disappear altogether, right??

[eric of Reseda]

Anybody who thinks that it is fair taking what amounts to almost a WEEKS wages for most Californians (based on median hourly wage less deductions) for a traffic ticket either works for one of these camera companies or works for the beleaguered and incompetent city officials who have mismanaged the city's finances. (And sorry, the economic downturn doesn't give these city guys a pass. These fines were wildly excessive from near the get-go, and they shouldn't pay for our officials' missteps, from Belmont High to Mrs. Delgadillo's unauthorized use and misuse of city cars). Let's not forget the money the city SAVES with these cameras by requiring fewer cops to handle the job, that is, it takes time and effort for a cop to apprehend the motorist, issue and contest these tickets. 13,000 red-light camera tickets represent a significant reduction in actual police work (probably well over 1,000 hours if you figure it takes on average 5 minutes to stop and issue a ticket. And that doesn't include the hours cops spend in court when a motorist contests the ticket). And that means fewer cops need to be hired as well. Etc., etc., etc. Yes, running red lights is BAD, but speeding is probably the greatest single threat to traffic safety, and that's just over half the cost, roughly, of these red light tickets. No, this red-light ticket thing is a MAJOR scam being perpetrated on a citizenship that has grown alarmingly passive.

[Randy]

I say install them....I'm so tired of waiting after my light turns green to go straight as 4-5 people run the red left arrow because they are in such a hurry.

[Joe Marone]

Why not a Proposition to ban the use of cameras in California?

[TRUCK DRIVER]

I would say that about 80% of the tickets given from those red lights are unpreventable. There are no delays that give a person time to pass before the other end is ready to go. I have noticed as well the timers, after they reach the zero mark continue on green which confuses and cause people to stop before it even turns yellow. There are many flaws that can be fixed with all these revenues of millions of dollars pouring in from all those fines given.

[Parson Grams]

Nice use of photo of Aero Drive in Murphy Canyon area of San Diego just off Highway 15 to illustrate your Los Angeles story!!!

[ryan]

How come I still have to drive through about 10 huge potholes on major streets in L.A. on my commute every day? Where's all the extra money going? Just another way for the government to steal more money out of the pockets of citizens and put straight into theirs along with the nearly 10% sales tax, recycling fees you have to pay to buy any electronics now, smog fees etc.