Thanks for the report Terry. There are more holes in this 110 page report than Swiss Cheese!
1. It tells me how to beat red light violations in spite of the red light cameras.
"Because of the court’s ruling, approximately 250 citations were ultimately dismissed." (Now I won't even bother to find out where it is, I know how to beat the system - I can even use the report as evidence)
2. While it states accidents decrease in 5 of the 6 local governments that implemented such programs, it does nothing to compare the alternative solution.
In addition, accidents probably decrease for a simple reason, people find out where they are and drive alternate routes - the report doesn't address that.
3. And I quote - "Finally, local governments themselves make little or no profit from their programs. Only two of the programs we reviewed
made significant revenues."
a. Two of the programs made significant revenues (hence it wasn't preventing people from running the light)
b. The others made little (which is still a profit), or no profit (which probably speaks more to the inefficiency of the local government than it does to the $270 ticket * number of motorists - operational costs.
c. The report states that individual red light cameras were not evaluated to determine profit, but rather the program as a whole.
4. More evidence that the local government doesn't care about the people, and I quote from the report.
"Traffic safety appeared to be a significant factor in the choice for most sites for red light cameras; however, we found that Los Angeles, Sacramento, Oxnard, and San Diego placed cameras at some intersections
that did not appear to have problems with red light violations
based on accident statistics. "
"In addition, four local governments acknowledged that they avoided placing cameras at state-owned intersections with high accident rates."
5. And I quote, "A SIGNIFICANT NUMBER OF RED LIGHT VIOLATIONS OCCUR WITHIN ONE SECOND OF THE LIGHT TURNING RED" - more evidence that the alternative solution would be a better preventive implementation.
6. More government waste - Again, government can't even account for the revenues, and in spite of this it made SIGNIFICANT profits in 2 counties! The local governments are potentially overpaying the vendors! Oh what a surprise there....
"Accounting for Program Revenues and Expenditures Is Weak"
"Although good internal control practices dictate proper accounting
for revenues and expenditures, only Fremont can fully account for the revenue and expenditures of its red light camera program. Because each local government pays their respective vendor based on the number of red light citations that motorists’ pay, it would be prudent for them to properly
54 account for program revenues."
"Additionally, we found that only Fremont and Long Beach conduct monthly reconciliations of their vendors’ invoices with the courts’ payment records (where traffic citations are paid) to ensure that they are paying their
vendors the appropriate amount."
"The remaining five local governments rely solely on vendors’ invoices and are unable to conduct reconciliations with the citations the courts show have been paid."
7. And this is only one who got caught, what waste -
"The auditors found that the vendor had overbilled the city by more than $78,000,and the police department reduced subsequent payments to the
vendor to correct for the overpayment"
"In addition to being unable to accurately account for revenues, three of the local governments we visited do not properly account for the expenditures of their red light camera programs."
8. Want to make a profit? Manage your vendors and costs....
"Vendor Fees and Administrative Costs Differ Significantly"
"The fees and fee structures that local governments pay their
vendors differ significantly, even though the vendors provide
basically the same services. As shown in Table 7 on the following
page, Oxnard pays the lowest fee, with the vendor receiving $25
per citation, while Fremont pays its vendor $106."
"Table 7 also shows how administrative costs varied substantially among
the local governments. San Diego had the highest administrative
cost at about $39 per citation, and Los Angeles had the lowest
at about $5 per citation. As previously mentioned, San Diego
included more administrative costs in its red light camera
program than did any other local government we visited. We did
not attempt to analyze why the administrative costs varied."
9. Here are some outs folks....
"Local governments enforce only a small percentage of the
total violations recorded at red light camera intersections
for several reasons. For example, if a driver or license
plate cannot be positively identified, the violation is considered
unenforceable. Of the total number of violations that red
light cameras capture, the seven local governments we visited
eventually enforced only 23 percent in 2001, as shown in Table A.1.
State law requires that for local governments to enforce a red light
camera violation, the photograph must clearly show the license
plate and the driver of the vehicle. Local governments have
found that obtaining clear photographs is difficult at times and
that this difficulty has prevented them from enforcing a large
percentage of red light camera violations."
10. And here is where they are (keep in mind that this is an older study)
City of Sacramento
Valley Hi Drive at La Mancha Way and Mack Road May 26, 1999
El Camino Avenue at Evergreen Street June 4, 1999
Howe Avenue at Fair Oaks Boulevard June 9, 1999
Mack Road at Center Parkway December 2, 1999
Exposition Boulevard at Ethan Way December 17, 1999
30th Street at Capitol Avenue February 28, 2000
Alhambra Boulevard at J Street March 2, 2000
Broadway at 21st Street March 13, 2000
W Street/US 50 at 16th Street June 29, 2000
College Town Drive at Howe Avenue July 13, 2000
Total of red light camera intersections May 26, 1999
“ In fact, an appeal of a red light camera citation regarding
Sacramento’s placement of warning signs at major entrances resulted in a December 1999 ruling by a pro-tem traffic court commissioner that the city had failed to install warning signs in full compliance with the law.”
