Red-light cameras backed by LAPD Chief Charlie Beck despite shortcomings

In a new report on Los Angeles' red-light camera system, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck insists the program is needed to reduce accidents and save lives, despite that it's losing millions of dollars because of unpaid tickets.

Beck is recommending the police commission continue the program despite the shortcomings outlined in a recent audit by City Controller Wendy Gruel, which found the program lost $2.5 million over the last two years.

Police commissioners are due to take up the issue Tuesday and will review a report from Beck that states the 32 red-light camera intersections help reduce overall serious injury and fatal traffic collisions resulting from red-light violations.

Beck argues in the report that his officers rarely issue moving violations for running red lights; such violations account for only 7% of their moving citations. He notes the number of citations for red-light violations has quadrupled from 14,000 to 59,000 annually since the program began in 2007.

Beck argues the cameras serve as a “high visibility public awareness campaign,” putting drivers on notice that L.A. does not tolerate red-light running.

Beck notes in the report that from 2004 to 2009, red-light traffic collisions have declined 63%. There were five red-light fatalities from 2004 to 2006 and none since the program began, Beck said.

Beck also cites research published in May in the Journal of the Institute of Transportation Engineers that found that red-light cameras reduce crashes. He noted a top National Highway Traffic Safety Administration official testified before Congress last June that about 1,000 people die annually in red-light traffic collisions.

Beck said the department does not have the resources to conduct its own analysis of the accident data, which was suggested in the September audit that found 45% of red-light tickets were unpaid, and the program bypassed some of the most dangerous intersections in the city.

LAPD officials concede about 56,000 citations worth more than $7 million remain tied up in court.

City officials blamed the State Department of Motor Vehicles for failing to place holds on driver’s licenses and vehicle registrations for unsettled photo enforcement infractions.

But state officials said court officials were not forwarding hold requests to the DMV. Auditors found that about two-thirds of the city's red-light camera tickets are for right-turn violations. Reducing straight-through red-light running, which can cause serious broadside collisions, has been a primary selling point for the cameras.

But a 2008 Times investigation found that some cities, including Los Angeles, get most of their photo enforcement money from citing slower, rolling stop right turns, which many experts say cause fewer and less serious accidents.

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-- Richard Winton and Rich Connell

Comments

[Garyq]

Correlation and causation are not the same thing. Just because incidents involving red-light infractions have decreased doesn't mean the cameras are the reason. All we know that these ridiculous cameras do for certain is flood the traffic courts with new cases which may never see a hearing. 56,000 citations waiting to be heard? $2.5 million in the hole?? I smell a greasy palm or three here.

[CD]

What? "rolling stop right turns, which many experts say cause fewer and less serious accidents".? Well, yeah, if you are killing pedestrians it is obviously less serious! I have to fight at every intersection I cross as a pedestrian, with a fresh green light and a walk signal, to not get run over by right-turn drivers who think they have the right of way or just don't want to take the time to let pedestrians cross the street. There has been an increase in the number of pedestrian fatalities and who knows how many injuries are caused and not reported. You have to be blind, or obviously never walk in LA!

[alan]

What is a right-turn violation? Is it intersections with signs not to make a right on red?

[GNSS]

Like it or not and I don't like the idea that we are paying
more to the company that runs the program than we receive. A program that is in the hole $2.5 million should be ended!

[Justin]

I do not believe for one second that this city is losing money on these cameras. They found a way to cook the books just as they attempted to mislead the general public regarding their accident rates earlier this year. There is no way that a city who issues these tickets 70-80% of the time for rolling right turns is really concerned about safety.I say let's put the things on the ballot like Houston.

[Tom M.]

What the public doesn't understand, is that most of these red light tickets are actually issued to people who make a right turn on a red light and don't come to a full stop. Certainly not an infraction worth the $400.+ dollar fine.
Btw why would your car registration get held up for unpaid parking tickets but not unpaid red light tickets??

[uncle_vito]

These red light cameras are stupid but all the cops want is money. These days you can almost kill someone and you only get hit with a fine.

Start imprisoning people for running red lights and running red lights will stop.

[Daniel Treto]

There red-light cameras are a rip-off...you pay less for a speeding ticket! The cameras are there for one reason only, to increase revenue for the city. They are not for safety at all and numerous reports have stated as such. They are tying up the court systems with lawyers fighting these tickets everyday. You will pay almost $500 for one of these tickets.

[Greg Freeman]

I was driving home one night on Fairfax avenue and I know exactly where the red light cameras are, so I drive below the speed limit the entire time so I can stop the second I see an orange light. I came up on one of the red light intersections and just as I was about to cross into the crosswalk, the light went from green to yellow to red in less than a second. There was no way to stop!

These things are dangerous. I know that if I went in front of a judge he/she wouldn't believe me about the lights malfunctioning. I have been driving for over 30 years and have never been stopped for running a red light and I've never seen a light change that quickly. Adding red light cameras like this are only there to attempt to extort money. I wrote to the address on the West Hollywood website to alert them to this problem and got no response.

Now I am forced to pay nearly $600.00 for doing nothing other than trying to obey the law. If I don't it will mess with my credit because they cannot use these citations against you in reference to either your registration or renewing your drivers license.

These things should be removed or a study should be done to put them where motorists routinely run red lights not on intersections like LaBrea and Santa Monica where traffic is built up all the time and people are paranoid at that intersection trying to avoid getting a citation and stop the second the yellow light goes on no matter what causing people behind them to possibly hit them.

[Matthew]

I actually have one of these that I refuse to pay and here is why... Lockheed and Martin (the worlds largest weapons maker) has a patent on the technology and a federal contract with the government. At least 30% of each violation goes to them therefore indirectly each time we run a red light we are funding missile development. No thanks!!!

[Stephen J. Smith]

Los Angeles is NOT Nazi Germany, Chief Beck. Less cameras, more cops doing their jobs.

[Jose]

Its extortion. You can very safely turn right on red without a complete stop.

These cameras were sold based on someone barreling straight through a red light.

So who is not paying their camera tickets?

[JR]

"two-thirds of the city's red-light camera tickets are for right-turn violations"

Other states have stopped enforcement of the right turn/red light violation because they found there are serious problems with how the system works relative to where people stop for lights. For example if someone stops just before or after the "stop line" then rolls forward to make the turn they get snapped even though they did stop. Most drivers don't stop exactly at the line because in many cases people roll forward to see oncoming traffic to see of it's safe to turn. Doing that triggers the camera. If the state was fair they'd do what other states have done and toss those tickets. But of course squeezing every nickel out of drivers is the objective so that won't happen.

[John D.]

No one buys it, Beck. This is all about money. The cameras were a money losing mistake, but it will cost even more to abandon the program now that it has started -- and that is why you still support it.

The LAPD needs to understand that the public is not a piggy bank. All that the LAPD does in any decent area is write traffic tickets, mostly for minor violations that do not impact safety. I am trying to think of the last time I had any contact with a police officer that contributed to public safety in any way and I am at a loss. The cameras merely make the revenue generation easier for them.

The public needs to get serious about standing up to this shakedown.

[rp]

My experience with red-light cameras? The company administering and installing them when I was living in San Diego was proven to have set up the very tax payers who paid for their contract by shortening the timing of yellow lights change to red. As is often the case- this has nothing to do with the public's interest or safety and everything to do with $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. Shocking thing to say, I know.

[Larry]

Fight these Red Light tickets! Ask for your constitutional right to cross examine your accuser. If a representative actually shows up (highly unlikely), ask if he witness the violation in person. If he did not, then his testimony is hearsay and is not admissible.

[RN]

Hate to say this but while it may give the impression of a deterrent it also can be a violation of due process.

How can a person defend themself, get information for mitigating circumstances, or even try to prove that the equipment may have failed if the first notice they get is after the fact in the mail and they have nothing to imprint in their memory what may have occurred at the time of the incident.

As to this whole right turn scenario - many years ago I had slowed when I saw a pedestrian step one foot down from the curb, stop, WAVE ME THROUGH, and hold his position - as he was waving me through I proceeded forward, got pulled over by an officer and cited - I got the pedestrians information and contested the ticket and was able to avoid being ticketed because indeed the pedestrian confirmed and was present to help my case. -- had this been a picture ticket I would have had NO WAY to find the pedestrian again short of incredible luck and days of watching....if I could even remember the pedestrian.

good intentions perhaps, profits surely, safety and due process perhaps lacking...

[Astonished]

I've seen a whole lot of City buses running red lights all over the place, causing all kinds of close calls. If the Chief can prove to me that these cameras will make those darn bus drivers stop running the red lights, then I say keep them. If not, why pay for something that is digging it's own debt hole!

[gern]

Keep the red light cameras. In fact, we need more of them, the do indeed reduce the number of homicidal idiots speeding up to run lights.

Separate issue but perhaps related: how about doing away with the ability to turn right on a red light? If cars had to stop and wait, they might actually wait behind the crosswalk lines and pedestrians might be able to walk in this city with a modicum of safety.

[gern]

If you stop your car at a red light, you will never, ever have to worry about "due process" or "constitutional rights."

Moving vehicle violations are generally not criminal and so both of the above reasons never enter into discussions. Be that as it may, all you have to do, drivers of Los Angeles, is stop your cars! Wait! Then go when the light is green!

It's easy.

[public driver]

We do not know how much time remaining for the yellow to switch to the red light. I suggest the city install a digital clock in addition next to the red-yellow-green lights just like the digital clock for the pedestrians. The red-yellow-green lights are not easy to predict. In other countries that I traveled, they install only digital lights.

[Doug]

If you are gonna give people tickets, at least have the decency to do it in person!

[CD]

There are alternatives. Why not put a 4-way stop for pedestrians at some of these intersections instead of red light cameras? When it is time for pedestrians to cross, all vehicular traffic comes to a halt. No right turns. This protects pedestrians and helps prevent red light running. There are a lot of senior citizens living in the Fairfax district who have to walk to the grocery store or other errands. They need more protection

I have to say, I drive Fairfax all the time and have not gotten a red-light ticket. I slow down at intersections and stop before the light is red. I stop well behind the pedestrian crosswalk, since, being a pedestrian often, I am aware that they need the space and that peds can sometimes dash out, as when they are trying to catch a bus.

[Anonymous]

It is the taxpayers' money that is wasted. If it was coming out of Chief Beck's pocket, we'd hear a different tune.

[Ken]

Im getting used to the cameras as I drive around the city alot.
I just have a problem with the fine and it actually being a moving violation