Red Light Camera News Hemet, CA says no to RLC: NOT ENOUGH VIOLATIONS to make a PROFIT!
Ban the Cams note: It really is all about the money when they REQUIRE VIOLATIONS!
http://www.thevalleychronicle.com/articles/2010/05/14/news/doc4bed901fba5af669273920.txt
Chief puts brakes on red light cameras
HEMET: Issues are profitability, court challenges over state law banning quotas for traffic citations.
By CHARLES HAND / The Valley Chronicle
Published: Friday, May 14, 2010 2:04 PM CDT
The idea of installing cameras to catch scofflaws running red lights is dead in Hemet for the foreseeable future.
Police Chief Richard Dana told the City Council this week the concept of the cameras is under attack in the courts and the company that surveyed one of the city’s worst intersections has said there may be no profit in it anyway.
Challenges have been mounted in the courts claiming the red light cameras violate state law that bans quotas for traffic citations.
The point on which the challenges were mounted, said Dana, is that a minimum number of citations must be issued to pay for the cameras and to provide the company that operates them with a profit.
As a result, several cities that have the cameras have decided to remove them, but therein is another issue, he said.
The red light camera operators required contracts and are contesting the decisions to remove the cameras before the contracts have expired, said Dana.
Taken together, those circumstances suggest the city not get involved, said Dana. “My recommendation at this time is to do nothing.”
One of the intersections surveyed in Hemet to determine the viability of red light cameras here was Sanderson and Stetson avenues.
The company that conducted the survey would have spent $5,000 for each approach to the intersection, of which there are eight, including right- and left-turn lanes.
That would mean the intersection would have to generate $40,000 per month in fines just to pay for the cameras, he said.
Revenue is not the major issue, he said, but safety is.
A better option, he said, could be to reinstate the traffic division, which produced $600,000 per year in revenue generated by citations issued for driving violations.
Since the eight-person division was cut to two officers, revenue has dropped to $56,000.
What is more, he said, city streets are not as safe with the six fatal collisions so far this year giving Hemet one of the highest mortality rates in the state.
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