City rejects light contract

The city of Huntington Beach will not install red-light cameras at its intersections, following a review of a study conducted this spring.

The potential use of the cameras attracted public outcry over what opponents say is simply a source of revenue, rather than an interest in public safety.

After receiving approval from the City Council in early March, Redflex Traffic Systems installed cameras for 12-hour runs during the study period at 18 of the city’s intersections. The city then studied the data from the trial.

“After looking at the data that they gathered during the study, and the information that we had regarding traffic accidents, we didn’t feel that any of the intersections were appropriate for red-light cameras,” Huntington Beach Police Chief Ken Small said.

“A lot of the violations I saw were people who, in my view, I wouldn’t feel comfortable writing a citation for,” Small said. Many were extremely close to the intersection line when they entered the intersection following the yellow light, he said.

Small talked with the city administrator last week, and sent a memo to the City Council recommending not to approve use of the cameras.

Redflex conducted the study at no cost to the city. There was a provision in Redflex’s contract with the city that stipulated that if the city didn’t find any appropriate intersections in which to install cameras, the city could terminate the contract, Small said.

Small added that he wouldn’t rule out installing the cameras in the future if an intersection justified their use, but said he found no example of an intersection in the recent study that warranted use of the cameras.

Using the intersection of Beach Boulevard and Talbert Avenue as an example, he said there were only two red-light-related accidents in 2008, so he found it hard to justify installing cameras that cost $5,800 per month. A typical intersection would have four cameras at its corners.

“I really was concerned that the revenue wouldn’t offset the cost over the course of a five-year contract,” Small said. “We don’t have any extra money right now.”

Opponents of the cameras argue that they do not stop accidents, and only serve to line the coffers of the cities who install them.

“They keep saying it’s all about public safety, but they don’t want to try simple things first,” said City Council candidate Norm Westwell.

The Ocean View school board president, who has long opposed the cameras, said there are many options to consider — including adjusting light timing — before resorting to more costly measures.

“I am tickled pink,” he said of the decision. “The public is going to be well served, and if they will only increase the yellow time and the all-red time, we will have a significant increase in safety with no cost to the taxpayer.”

He said most people caught on the cameras likely only missed the light by tenths of a second.

“Those cameras are not going to stop people who are running red lights,” Westwell said, adding that studies found that some people who slammed on their brakes after seeing the cameras ended up being rear-ended.

“The whole point is to stop these T-bone accidents, and these cameras just do not do that. Ask a person in a major accident if they felt better served that that camera was there, and they’ll say no every time,” Westwell said.

Reporter CANDICE BAKER can be reached at (714) 966-4631 or at [email protected].