AgdaPkt 2000-07-24 - Laserfiche WebLink

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REPORT To the Honorable Mayor and City Council From the City Manager July 24, 2000 Subject Report on Photo Red Light Enforcement Technology. Recommendation The recommendation is to implement a photo red light program in five locations throughout the City of Redwood City. Background At the Redwood City Council meeting on September 21, 1999, the Council was presented with an overview of the Redwood City Police Department's Traffic Unit, and a report on automated traffic enforcement. The Council requested additional research on the photo red light enforcement technology and a recommendation with a limited scope of implementation. The Council also decided not to pursue the photo radar concept. Red light photo enforcement is a proven tool to reduce red light violations. The goal of this technology is to eliminate the life threatening traffic accidents that are caused by drivers running re( lights. Red light cameras and associated detection equipment can be permanently installed at high- accident or other problem intersections and operate 24 hours a day. If a motorist runs a red light, the camera is triggered and photographs will be taken of the driver and the license plate. A citation is subsequently sent by mail to the registered owner of the vehicle. In Redwood City, there are currently 86 signal-controlled intersections. From January 1997 through December 1999, 216 collisions occurred at these signalized intersections - 93 of which resulted in injury. There were no deaths during that period. During the same time period, the Redwood City Police Department issued 1,653 red light citations. Red light violations present unique difficulties to conventional police enforcement. In most cases, the police officer must follow a violating vehicle through a red light in order to stop the suspect driver, thereby endangering the police officer as well as other motorists and pedestrians in the intersection. The proposed program will place the red light cameras at five signalized intersection approaches. The number of accidents, number of citations issued, and visual observations will determine the locations. A red light camera system takes photographs of vehicles when they enter the intersection after the light cycles from yellow to red. The red light camera also may photographically capture actual accident on occasion. Recorded with the photo are the date, time, location, length of time the light was yellow, how long the light was red before the road sensor was tripped, and the speed of the vehicle. The owner of the vehicle committing the violation is determined using DMV information. The registered owner's driver's license information is then compared to the photograph. If there is enough evidence to support that the registered owner and the driver are the same person, then a citation is issued, reviewed by a police officer, and mailed to the owner of the vehicle. If the owner states they were not the driver of the vehicle at the time of the violation, they are asked to identify 1