Cameras monitor red lights

By Don Weberg
Daily Forty-Niner

An astounding rate in stop light violations in Long Beach has caused the city to implement the Automated Red Light Enforcement System, which will record red light offenders.

Long Beach's new ARLES system is slightly more advanced than the old system which is designed to click a few camera shots when the signal goes red and any vehicles in the intersection are photographed.

Instead of a still photo, the new system videotapes offending vehicles. Developed by Nestor Traffic Systems, the equipment rolls a six-second shot of a vehicle approaching and departing, while recording the red light and license plate, said Officer Leesa Mahaffey of the Long Beach Police Department.

"It should help cut down on accidents," Mahaffey said.

In 1998, 5,458 auto accidents occurred in Long Beach, of which 555 were red light or stop sign violations, according to statistics by the Long Beach Police Department.

The new camera systems will likely be seen at the intersections of Bellflower Boulevard and Willow Street; Seventh Street and Redondo Avenue; Anaheim Road and Redondo Boulevard; and Artesia Boulevard and Cherry Avenue. The cameras should debut sometime in the spring, Mahaffey said.

"If we experience success with them at those intersections, the city may employ more," she said.

Members of the department were skeptical to the success of ARLES at first, Mahaffey said. However, after reviewing certain statistics and learning more about the system, many of the officers seem to support the new traffic idea.

"The Highway Institute of Insurance has done studies and cities that install cameras show a significant drop in accidents," Mahaffey said. "The presence of a camera at intersections increases driver awareness."

One such city is Beverly Hills, where three intersections employ a snapshot system.

"The system has been very successful," said Lt. Al Muñoz-Slores of the Beverly Hills Police Department.

Home of the seventh most traveled intersection in Los Angeles County, La Cienega at Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills has seen a significant drop in the amount of accidents at that particular place, Muñoz-Slores said.

"We've had an 11 percent reduction in accidents at that intersection," he said.

The average decrease of accidents in intersections equipped with camera surveillance systems is between 11 percent and 14 percent, according to Muñoz-Slores.

Attending to privacy concerns, when the film is developed by Lockheed-Martin under the surveillance of the BHPD, any passengers on the offending vehicles are blurred out and signs are posted letting drivers and pedestrians know a camera is present.

Once the vehicle is identified as an offender, a citation must be issued within 15 days, he said.

"It's all in accordance with the California State Vehicle Code," Muñoz-Slores said. "Every offense is a possible accident."

One reason that stoplight accidents are so severe is due to the high speed associated with trying to beat the red, Mahaffey said.

"The average speed of a vehicle through a red is 31 miles per hour," Muñoz-Slores said. "We try to publicize it so people know, and the system works, so people modify their driving behaviors."

The fine for running a red light is around $271, Muñoz-Slores said.

"With that kind of fine, people are playing it safe," he said.

Many cities across the nation with this type of system have seen significant drops in auto accidents, injuries and fatalities, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

"The cameras keep honest people honest," said Paul Schaefer of the administration. "Like an electronic conscience."