LAPD Is Taking the Death of the City's Red-Light Camera Program Pretty Hard

Photo by alexandrenunes via Shutterstock

Now that the city's red-light camera program is dead authorities are trying to figure out a new solution to deal with the city's high number of traffic fatalities.

The Los Angeles Police Department is taking it pretty rough, KCET reports. The department saw the program as a way to reduce fatal accidents caused by red-light runners and at one point police offers even hoped they could use the cameras to catch other kinds of violations. Los Angeles' 32 red light cameras were responsible for recording an average of 45,000 traffic violations annually — or 20 percent of all moving violations issued by the LAPD each year.

"It wasn't about making money, getting somebody and making [his or her] life miserable," Lieutenant Ron Katona told KCET. "Our primary job is traffic enforcement... and the photo red light program was an extension of that objective."

But the program was plagued by criticism that it was costly, unenforceable and actually ended up causing more rear-end collisions. Now that the program is dead, police officers, LADOT and the city council are trying to figure out how to deal with traffic fatalities, which KCET reports are unusually high in Los Angeles. Roughly 250 driving-related deaths occur in Los Angeles each year, making the city one of the deadliest for motorists, second only to New York City, according a 2009 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report. But Angelenos are twice as likely to be killed in similar accidents than New Yorkers. For every 100,000 Angelenos, more than six are killed in traffic accidents annually, the report said.

Some ideas being thrown around include making yellow lights longer.

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By Emma G. Gallegos in News on October 19, 2011 4:40 PM 0 Comments

Comments [rss]

Repeal_The_Va_Radar_Detector_B

GET OVER IT !!!! Traffic cameras are not about SAFETY, they are about making MONEY!!!
If they made the roads safer, the camera companies would not be in business for long from loosing money...When traffic cameras are installed, the camera company controls the local government, the courts and the police. The camera company also starts making the laws...Traffic Cameras are nothing but a SCAM!!! Traffic Camera = SCMAERA

DiegoHenry

LA is more spread out than NYC, so road speeds here are higher. And speed is the main determinant of the severity of injuries. The energy contained in a moving car goes up as the square of the speed, so a car going 60 (as is possible in LA) contains four times as much energy as does a car going 30.

jennix

Here's a zany idea: how about we build rail-systems that transport people all over town so that they have alternatives to driving. Maybe we put in some bike lanes and take out some turn lanes so people can feel safer while riding bikes.

The biggest problem with traffic in LA is that the government keeps trying to make more of it, and encourages what there is to move faster.

srd275

You don't improve safety by putting cops in front of a computer screen.

YOU HAVE THEM PATROL THE ROAD!

THE RLC (and photo enforcement in general), IS A CASH SCAM!

Most of the "violations" become technical fouls that in RLC case were right turns on red for example!

A cop on the beat who can pull over DANGEROUS drivers is traffic safety. SENDING BILLS out for the benefit of ATS is NOT!

(P.S. I wonder how much of the "morning' is more do to the fact that LAPD will not be going out to ATS headquarters for more ENTERTAINMENT! http://www.thenewspaper.com/ne...

Quote: "ATS was equally generous in inviting municipal employees from across the country to attend a complimentary seminar in Arizona discussing "tips and tricks for speaking with the media" regarding red light cameras and "when to panic, when to relax" regarding efforts in the state legislature to restrict automated ticketing. Airfare, lodging and wages during such events is considered official business and paid by taxpayers. ATS picked up the rest of the tab, for which municipal employees expressed gratitude."

IF you click the link you can see ATS entertainment. "Pictured: ATS entertainment as provided after conference in photo taken by Davis.")

FIGHT THE SCAM!
KEEP TAKING DOWN THE RLC SCAM!
www.motorists.org
www.banthecams.org
www.camrerafraud.com
www.bshpi.org

neopangaea

LADOT should be analyzing injury/death data and prioritizing the worst intersections for traffic calming treatments. It's much more effective changing people's behavior before then punitive actions after.

The Ugly American

Just look both ways before proceeding through the intersection and you're good.

It's saved me from a number of close calls.

erp2

250 deaths out of the current* population of 3,792,621(not counting the many undocumented and others who violate their visa stays). i would say, those are pretty low numbers. merely the buzzing of flies in the big picture.

mluevano

"Roughly 250 driving-related deaths occur in Los Angeles each year, making the city one of the county's deadliest for motorists, second only to New York City."

When did New York become part of L.A. County?!