Red Light Cameras
Councilmember Madaffer was among the first raising concern with the City's Photo Enforcement program - which has also been called the Red Light Camera program. He led efforts to halt the program in 2001 until an audit was conducted and the entire system revised. His main concern was that the program be used to promote safety and not as a revenue source.
The Photo Enforcement Program resumed last fall with the activation of cameras located a A Street and Tenth Avenue. There was a 30-day grace period whereby notices were issued. At the conclusion of the grace period actual citations with fines were issued. By the end of the year five intersections with photo enforcement cameras were activated. The following intersections have photo enforcement cameras:
A Street at Tenth Avenue
Black Mountain Road at Mira Mesa Boulevard
La Jolla Village Drive at Towne Center Drive
60th Street at Imperial Avenue
54th Street at Montezuma Road
Harbor Drive and Grape Street
Three more sites have been identified. An additional seven sites have been selected to be photo enforcement intersections during FY '05.
On May 30, 2001 Councilmember Madaffer asked the City Manager to shut down all of the red light cameras throughout the City until an appropriate audit and necessary changes were made. In an effort to ensure fairness and to restore public confidence, all 19 red light cameras throughout the City were turned off. Councilmember Madaffer asked that the audit include a review of traffic safety concerns versus revenue-generator concerns, that the review provide a break down of who gets how much money from each $271 photo enforcement citation and to increase the yellow light time in order to improve safety and decrease the number of photo enforcement citations.
On September 17, 2002 the photo enforcement issue returned to City Council. The Council, on Councilmember Madaffer's motion, directed staff to negotiate a new contract with the vendor, but with the following stipulations: 1) Investigate increasing yellow light times to a minimum of 4 seconds; 2) Make sure the public has opportunity to give input on future red light camera installations; and 3) Keep Department of Motor Vehicle records private and confidential by enacting serious fines and penalties should any records be misused by the vendor. In the fall of 2002 the City Council approved the revised program.
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