Photo Red Light Intersections to Become Operational

June 28, 2001

"Photo Red Light Intersections to Become Operational"
 

Los Angeles – On Friday, June 29, 2001, at 12:01 a.m., the intersections of Sepulveda Boulevard and National Boulevard in the West Los Angeles area and 6th Street and Alvarado Street in the Rampart area will become the sixth and seventh intersections to be equipped with cameras designed to capture red light runners. The intersection of Rodeo Road and La Brea Avenue will become the eighth and will become operational on July 5, 2001. The Photo Red Light Enforcement program for the City of Los Angeles is a joint program of the LAPD and the Department of Transportation.
Motorists travel across magnetic loops that are imbedded in the roadway, which detect their relative position at the time the signal changes to red. Vehicles failing to stop at the intersection limit lines are photographed and an automated citation is sent to the driver. The first four intersections equipped with cameras began operating in December of 2000. The first photo citations were captured on December 31, 2000, after a 30 day warning period. Through May 2001, 4,284 citations have been issued at the five intersections currently being monitored. Those intersections are; Wilshire Boulevard/Westwood Boulevard, 3rd Street/Vermont Avenue, Imperial Highway/Figueroa Street, and Winnetka Avenue/Sherman Way, and Laurel Canyon Boulevard/Victory Boulevard.
In a recent article by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (Vol. 36, No.4, April 28, 2001) "significant citywide crash reductions have followed the introduction of red light cameras in Oxnard, California." The article continues to say, "(these reductions) represent the first hard evidence that red light camera enforcement is making U.S. intersections safer." In Oxnard, right angle crashes at intersections with traffic signals (the collision type most closely associated with red light running) fell 32 percent after camera enforcement began in 1997. Los Angeles currently has over 4,300 signalized intersections throughout 450 square miles. The Photo Red Light Program, when fully implemented by the summer of 2001, will monitor 16 intersections with cameras. The City’s program will evaluate the results from these 16 intersections over three years to determine if the program will impact the deaths and injuries resulting from red light crashes in the City. In 2000, there were 3,112 collisions directly attributed to red light runners in the City resulting in 16 deaths, 2,452 motorists injured, and untold property damage losses. Los Angeles is hoping Automated Red Light Enforcement results in a similar reduction in red light traffic collisions as those documented in the city of Oxnard. Through May of 2001, not a single red light related collision has occurred at those intersections monitored.
For further information, please contact Sergeant John Gambill, Uniformed Support Division, Department Photo Red Light Coordinator at 213-473-7796.