Community Corner

City Puts Brakes on Red-Light Camera Program

"There are no statistics that the cameras have done anything to improve safety at these intersections," said Councilmember Dave Warden

You know when you've been nailed---just as you pass through the intersection at Ralston and El Camino, under what you pray is still a yellow light--the camera strobe light flashes above you and you know you're looking at a $480 ticket.

Do those cameras at Ralston Avenue  and El Camino Real, and Ralston Avenue and Old County Road  actually improve traffic safety? Is $480 too steep a fine for running a red light? These questions were tossed around Tuesday night as the Belmont City Council debated whether or not to continue the city's contract with Redflex, the Australian company that installs and operates the red light cameras.

And now, thanks to questionable data, shady dealings involving the camera operator, and lack of proof that the $480 tickets actually improve safety, the cameras will be shut off for good at the end of June.

On Tuesday, Belmont joined Redwood City and Hayward in dismantling its red-light traffic camera program. In a 3-1 vote (Councilmember Warren Lieberman was not present at the meeting), the council voted to end the program.

According to the San Jose Mercury News, RedFlex Holdings, which operates the cameras in many Bay Area cities, has been implicated in a Chicago-based bribery scam in which company executives provided "excessive gifts and gratuities," to a former Chicago transportation official. City staff noted  that no evidence has been found to link the alleged actions in Chicago with the photo red light enforcement program in Belmont.

Belmont’s red light photo enforcement system was activated on April 15, 2010. Since formal enforcement began in May 2010 the Belmont Police Department has issued as average of 173 citations per month for red light violations. 

In its staff report to the council, city staff said given the city's limited traffic enforcement resources, the program has been effective in these geographically challenging intersections. And in March 2011, the Belmont Police Department told city council that red-light cameras appeared to be helping the city in more ways than one.

But Councilmember Dave Warden is not convinced. 

"There are no statistics that the cameras have done anything to improve safety at these intersections," said Warden.

As reported in the Merc, Mayor Christine Wozniak said she originally supported the camera program because she believed it would keep pedestrians safer, but after learning of the about the Redflex scandal, and hearing negative feedback from residents, she's changed her position.

"All the feedback--or 99 percent of it--I have gotten is negative," Wozniak said.

To view the city staff report on the red light camera program, click here.


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