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Your Donations at Work: Legislation to Increase Yellow Light Times at Red Light Camera Intersections in California Unanimously Passes Transportation Committee
Sign up for our email list on the Action Page so we can keep you informed as this legislation moves forward. We may need your help to tell your representatives that you support this important safety measure.
Two very good reports from KNBC TV’s Ted Chen on our efforts to end the red-light camera program. These reports originally aired on June 7, 2011, the day the Police Commission voted unanimously to end the program.
During his campaign for L.A. City Council, Mitch Englander said he does not support continuing the City’s red-light camera program. On Monday he followed through and voted to phase out the program. Kudos to the newest member of the City Council.
Mayor Villaraigosa says he supports the Police Commission’s decision to to end the red-light camera program.
Missouri Department of Transportation lengthens yellow signal times and violations plummet.
If you live, work, visit or own a business in Los Angeles, you are getting ripped off by red-light cameras. Even if you never get a red-light camera ticket, you are getting ripped off. If you drive on the streets of Los Angeles, you are less safe than you could be otherwise. The City of Los Angeles’ Photo Red-Light Program is a waste of taxpayer dollars and reduces safety for motorists and pedestrians. Here’s why:
The FACTS
1. Engineering countermeasures are a much more effective and economical solution to reduce red-light related collisions.
- Most red light running is unintentional and caused by yellow light times that are too short or other engineering deficiencies.
- Yellow times in Los Angeles are currently based on the posted speed limit but should be based on the actual speed of traffic approaching the intersection. Lengthening the yellow signal to the proper time will reduce violations and collisions as much as 50% or more.
- Lengthening the all-red phase prevents accidents by making sure the intersection is clear before cross traffic is released. Some major intersections in Los Angeles have all-red times less than ½ second, and need to be closer to 2 – 2.5 seconds.
- The most severe accidents are caused by impairment, distraction and fatigue which the red-light cameras can’t prevent.
- If the city improved the signal timing and fixed any other engineering deficiencies, accidents and violations would drop and there would be no need for photo enforcement. They are spending your money and giving out tens of thousands of tickets for no reason.
2. The cameras have not improved safety and may have made us less safe.
- Contrary to LAPD claims, any improvement in accident statistics is a result of State mandated longer yellow times being implemented when the cameras were installed or a decrease in traffic volume.
- At some intersections, red light related accidents disappeared long before the cameras were put in, but the LAPD claims the cameras caused the reduction in accidents.
- Red-light cameras can’t reduce the most serious accidents because those are caused by impairment, distraction and fatigue and occur well after the light has turned red. Red-light cameras, if they have any effect at all, only have the possibility of affecting the relatively few drivers who try to “beat the light” and misjudge by a few tenths of a second. In these situations, a sufficient all-red phase will prevent collisions from occurring.
- Rear end accidents have increased substantially at some intersections. At Sherman Way and Louise Ave., rear end collisions increased by as much as 90% after the cameras were installed.
3. The City loses over $1 million in taxpayer dollars on the program every year.
- This is likely to get worse as cited drivers begin to realize that if they ignore their tickets they won’t be reported to the DMV.
- Also, appeals courts in many counties have ruled red light camera evidence to be inadmissible hearsay. It’s only a matter of time before the appeals court in Los Angeles rules similarly.
4. The program is being subsidized by giving out tens of thousands of citations for rolling right turns which rarely cause accidents.
- At some intersection approaches rolling-right-turn tickets make up as much as 97% of the citations.
- Rolling right turns pose little danger and don’t warrant spending millions of dollars to prevent this behavior. The average number of rolling-right-turn collisions each year was 45 out of an average of approximately 56,000 collisions annually in the City of L.A., which represents just 0.079% of all accidents. About three times as many accidents are caused each year by drivers opening their car door into passing traffic.
- The majority of rolling-right-turn collisions resulted in minimal or no injuries, even when pedestrians or bicyclists were involved. There were no fatalities noted due to rolling-right-turns between 2002 and 2009.
- The chance that a rolling-right-turn will result in a collision is 0.00029%. This means that a driver would have to make over 345,345 rolling-right-turns before they might be involved in an accident. Drivers who make slow, cautious rolling-right-turns will likely never cause an accident.
5. The cost of the red-light cameras goes far beyond the $1 million of taxpayer dollars wasted every year.
- The millions of dollars spent in unnecessary fines and higher insurance rates are unavailable to be spent on local goods and services to grow our economy. If you own a business in L.A., your customers have less money to spend because of the red-light camera program.
- Needless ticketing clogs our courts and makes our justice system less available for necessary cases. The Los Angeles Superior Court, where these cases are adjudicated, is facing a backlog of almost a full year.
- Unreasonable and unfair enforcement of traffic laws engenders disrespect towards our public officials and the police. Citizens are much more likely to see law enforcement as an adversary rather than an ally which makes it more difficult for the LAPD to obtain the public’s help with more serious crimes and safety matters.
At a time when the City of Los Angeles is slashing essential government services and laying off workers, the Photo Red-Light Program is an inexcusable waste of city and law enforcement resources.
