Red Light Cameras Mismanaged
Another California city is facing problems with their red light camera program. This time it’s Citrus Heights, and the Sacramento County Grand Jury isn’t pulling any punches.The Grand Jury investigation into the management of Citrus Heights’ red light camera program focused on two specific points: compliance of the duration of yellow signal lights with Federal and State mandated standards, and whether or not the red light camera monitored intersections have experienced a reduced number or accidents.
Yellow Light Logistics
According to California DOT policy directive, the standard duration of yellow signal lights is to be a minimum 3.9 seconds. The Citrus Heights Police Department has a policy in place for monitoring the operation of the red light camera enforcement program, which contains two specific actions. First, the City’s traffic engineers are to provide monthly maintenance documents for signal lighting sequences to ensure compliance with the standards set by CA DOT. Second, the yellow light sequences are to be checked monthly, with a stopwatch, to verify the duration of those lights is consistent and in compliance.When the Grand Jury requested documentation showing the procedures are being followed, the CHPD provided documentation checklists, some of which were post dated beyond the date the Grand Jury received them. The CHPD then admitted that the only way the stopwatch checks were being done was by referring to the video recorded by the cameras at the intersections. The camera vendor, Reflex, indicated that relying on those videos is inadvisable due to the digital compression of those videos, which adversely affects the timing accuracy. In reality, the only actual monitoring being done is automated. The signal lights at intersections utilizing red light cameras are set to indicate a warning by turning into a flashing red signal if the yellow light duration falls below 3.5 seconds, with is 0.4 seconds slower than the dictated minimum.
Accident Data
Moving on to the second part of the investigation, the Grand Jury requested documentation to substantiate the CHPD claim that the utilization of the red light cameras reduces accidents at those intersections, in response, the CHPD delivered a plethora of raw data the Grand Jury had to analyze itself. Unfortunately, that raw data included duplicate information regarding some accidents and well as information referring to intersections which don’t have red light cameras. The Grand Jury requested documentation supporting the claim of reduced accidents three times. The third time, the CHPD finally admitted that analysis of accident data was not completed on a routine basis. When they did compile and present a document to the Grand Jury, the report contained the same incorrect data the Grand Jury had already seen.
Rules and Regulations
Municipalities in California which utilize red light camera programs are required to have policies in place for monitoring and operating their camera systems. It was the Grand Jury’s findings that Citrus Heights has sufficient policies, but the policies are routinely disregarded. It was also found that there is no reliable data being collected or analyzed on a regular basis which would uphold the claim that the use of the camera system reduces accidents, which is the entire point of having a red light camera program in place.Even though the Grand Jury made three recommendations for Citrus Heights to follow, so as to get their system in order, be careful when you’re driving through Citrus Heights. Especially if you see a red light camera at an intersection.