The flash bulbs at intersections rigged with red light cameras may have drivers seeing red, but it has cities seeing green while also touting the safety benefits of photo enforcement.

The costly tickets caused by pesky cameras are being praised by law enforcement and, as a result, are popping up in cities across San Mateo County. San Mateo, Millbrae, Redwood City and Menlo Park already use photo enforcement while other cities like Belmont and San Carlos have approved their installation. More cities are likely to follow suit.

They reduce accidents, increase revenue and free up police officers for other types of crimes, police officers claim.

Millbrae installed the cameras approximately a year and a half ago to monitor four approaches at Millbrae Avenue and Rollins Road. The City Council approved a conservative budget revenue of $100,000. A rough estimate puts ticket revenue closer to $400,000, said Millbrae police Sgt. John Aronis.

The city issued a total of 4,672 citations to red light runners. Each ticket is $385 and of that, $138.50 goes to Millbrae’s general fund. If everyone paid his or her tickets, the city would be due $633,000. In reality, approximately 70 percent of tickets are paid, bringing the actual revenue to $443,000. The city rents the cameras from American Traffic Solutions for $5,395 a month — or $64,740 annually, Aronis said.

The intersection actually flashes a lot more pictures than tickets it generates. It logged 38,403 “events” — or possible violations. Those images are reviewed by the Millbrae Police Department employees supervised by Aronis and many are “disqualified” for things like unclear images, no actual car in the intersection, unclear faces or unclear license plates, Aronis said.

Aronis also said the city generally does not ticket for right turn on red violations. Many people will not come to a full stop when taking a right turn on a red. That is a violation that can earn a ticket. The department can, however, choose to violate offenders because their picture is being taken, Aronis said.

“We don’t issue those tickets to someone who makes an effort to stop, even if they just slow down,” Aronis said.

Sometimes pictures are taken of the intersection when a car did not run a red light. That’s because speed sensors in the ground trigger the lights. The cameras are triggered when a car goes past the sensor at a certain speed. Many times the car will come to a stop while going too fast, but not enter the intersection, Aronis said.

He would not disclose the designated sensor speed.

 

The city issues most violations to cars traveling north on Rollins Road. It had 14,115 events in that direction and issued 1,918 tickets. Westbound Millbrae Avenue generated 13,083 events that resulted in 1,590 tickets. Eastbound Millbrae Avenue generated 9,005 events that resulted in 841 tickets. Cameras monitoring cars traveling south on Rollins Road were disabled two to three months into the program when the department determined they were not needed because of the low violation rate, Aronis said.

Millbrae is looking to add more cameras at the intersection of Millbrae Avenue of El Camino Real, Aronis said.

San Mateo was one of the first in the area to install red light cameras. It monitors the intersection of Hillsdale Boulevard at Saratoga Drive, Hillsdale Boulevard at Norfolk Street and Fourth Avenue at Humboldt Street.

It logged 14,214 events and issued 9,536 citations, said San Mateo police Lt. Mike Brunicardi.

Brunicardi did not have information about how much the city collects from tickets. However, the tickets are also $385 and are charged the same court processing fees as other cities in the county. At the same rate of $138.50, the city could generate more than $1 million.

The San Mateo Police Department contracts with Redflex for the cameras. The company reviews all violations and rules out certain violations for blurred photos and sun glare before sending photos to the city for final evaluations, Brunicardi said.

The city holds the ultimate decision on who gets tickets.

In Redwood City, where cameras were installed just three months ago, one employee works 20 hours a week and looks at each photo violation. In one case, Redflex was prepared to dismiss a possible ticket because one number of a license plate was blocked by a trailer hitch.

With just 10 digits from which to choose, Project Coordinator Mickey Manry decided to plug in different numbers until he found the license plate that matched the car in the picture. That person sure enough received a photo citation in the mail, Manry said.

The Redwood City camera monitors eastbound traffic on Whipple Avenue at Veterans Boulevard. The camera was installed in March and the department started issuing tickets two months ago. In that time, there were 500 events and tickets were issued to approximately 470, Manry said.

Three people at Redflex review the tickets before being sent to Manry for final approval.

It is too early to conduct a comparison traffic study, but traffic is already improving, he said.

“I can tell, at the intersection, people are being more careful,” Manry said.

“In reality, it’s what you don’t see that matters. If you’re not seeing an increase it’s probably working,” said San Carlos police Cmdr. Rich Cinfio.

San Carlos is planning to install cameras at San Carlos Avenue and El Camino Real within the next three to 12 months and later at Brittan Avenue and Industrial Road, Cinfio said.

Dana Yates can be reached by e-mail: dana@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 106.

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5/30/2008