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Tag: Redflex

  • How much money do red light cameras actually make?

    A red light camera keeps an eye on the intersection of Auburn Blvd. and Antelope Road. // CH Sentinel

    Sentinel staff report–
    Automated red light cameras are commonly accused by motorists of being “revenue generators,” but how much money do they actually generate?

    After the Citrus Heights city council voted 4-1 to expand the city’s red light camera program in July, Councilman Bret Daniels accused the program of being a moneymaker, but said he hadn’t seen actual figures on the revenue generated from the tickets.

    “I’m not convinced red light cameras make things safer,” Daniels previously told The Sentinel. “I am convinced they make someone, the private company that puts them in, a lot of money.”

    According to revenue and expense totals released by the Citrus Heights Police Department last week, Daniels is correct. The majority of red light ticket revenue received by the city goes to pay Redflex Traffic Systems, Inc., the Australia-based company the city contracts with to maintain and operate red light cameras in Citrus Heights.

    So how much money is actually being made?
    Figures released by CHPD in response to an inquiry from The Sentinel show the city received an average of $639,494 each year from red light violations, from 2011 to 2016. While that’s not the total value of all $481 red light citations that were issued, police Lt. Jason Russo said it is the total the city received on average annually from the courts for red light citations — after state fees, court fees, and other mandated fees were taken out before reaching the City of Citrus Heights.

    After all costs of implementing the camera program are accounted for, Lt. Russo said the city’s general fund netted an average of $57,660 per year from the camera program, although figures from the most recent year put the net revenue at $124,600. Asked why 2015-16 revenue from the program was nearly double the five-year average, Russo said factors included a cheaper renegotiated contract with Redflex in 2015, staffing changes, and the addition of new camera locations not present in 2011.

    Related: Citrus Heights to add more red light cameras at intersections, but do they work?

    Under a “cost neutrality” agreement with Citrus Heights, Redflex does not receive any money until the city covers its own costs in implementing the program — making for easy implementation of the camera program, with no risk to the city. The current contract specifies that the first $8,500 in revenue generated each month goes to the city to cover operational costs, which includes staff time for “evaluation of photos and video to determine violations, issue citations, attend court proceedings, system audits, and training,” according to a July 13 police staff report to the city council.

    While red light ticket money received by Citrus Heights from the courts on average has exceeded $600,000 per year, Lt. Russo said that figure only represents a fraction of CHPD’s $21 million budget in fiscal year 2015-16.

    But revenue from red light tickets also represents a number three times higher than revenue received from all other traffic citations combined, with red light tickets being the number one citation issued in the city, followed by speeding, cellphone tickets and expired registration.

    Russo said red light tickets are the top citation issued in Citrus Heights “because the red light system obviously generates more violations than an officer could sitting there.”

    In 2015-16, the department reported receiving $209,746 from all traffic citations, excluding red light tickets, and $19,384 from parking tickets. Contrasted with the department’s $21 million budget, Lt. Russo said those numbers should dispel a common claim that traffic tickets are issued to beef up revenue for the department.

    “We don’t write tickets to generate revenue,” he said. “We write tickets to change driver behavior and make our roads safer for everyone.”

    So how much money does Redflex make?
    According to terms specified in the latest contract, Redflex currently receives $4,562.50 per month for each of the eight existing intersection approaches covered by cameras, an amount totaling over $400,000 per year. The two new intersection approaches that went live on July 28 added on another $6,070 per month each, which will bring the city’s payments to Redflex close to $50,000 per month and more than half-a-million dollars per year.

    The contract specifies that actual monthly amounts paid may be slightly lower, if credits are issued due to equipment malfunction or errors.

    Document: read the city’s 2015 Redflex contract

    Although Redflex enjoys a hefty fee from municipalities employing its red light camera systems, the pay apparently wasn’t enough. Last November, Redflex’s former chief executive officer was sentenced to 30 months in prison and ordered to pay $2 million in restitution for paying bribes to a city official in Chicago for nearly a decade, according to the United States Department of Justice.

    “As the CEO of Redflex Traffic Systems Inc., Karen Finley would funnel cash and other financial benefits to the city official… in exchange for improper assistance in awarding city red-light camera contracts to Redflex,” justice department officials said in a Nov. 10 news release. In a subsequent agreement, the DOJ said Redflex has since “agreed to adopt new policies to ensure that it maintains a rigorous anti-bribery and anti-corruption compliance code, and to install procedures designed to detect and deter violations of such laws.”

    Related letters: red light cameras, jaywalking, pedestrian barrier fence

    According to the initial 2007 contract with Redflex, a total of up to 20 intersection approaches were authorized to have red light cameras installed in Citrus Heights. So far the city has installed cameras to cover 10 approaches at nine different intersections.

    The city’s current red light camera contract is scheduled to expire on Dec. 11, 2018, but the city council can still choose to authorize up to two, two-year extension options remaining on the contract.

    Note: The Sentinel submitted a Public Records Act request on July 25 for documents showing the monthly number of red light citations issued in Citrus Heights, but the documents were not made available before this story was published. While the Elk Grove Police Department publishes monthly records of red light citations issued on its website, Citrus Heights does not.

    What do you think of red light cameras in Citrus Heights? Click here to share your thoughts in a letter to the editor.

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  • Citrus Heights to add more red light cameras at intersections, but do they work?

    Red light cameras
    File photo, red light camera sign. // CH Sentinel

    New red light cameras are slated to be installed by the end of July at two intersections along Greenback Lane in Citrus Heights, following a police recommendation and 4-1 approval by the city council earlier this month.

    The new cameras will be installed on eastbound Greenback Lane at Parkoaks Drive and northbound Auburn Boulevard at Greenback Lane — both of which are among the top 10 most dangerous intersections in Citrus Heights, according to police. Although the intersection of Auburn and Greenback has had red light cameras since 2012, they currently only capture violations on southbound lanes of traffic.

    Following activation, drivers will have a 30-day grace period where those in violation will receive a warning notice instead of a fine, as required by state law.

    Although not making a statement during the vote, Councilman Bret Daniels, the lone vote against the additional cameras, later told The Sentinel the city “could do better and make things safer than slapping people with $500 fines.” His four other colleagues on the council sided with the recommendation of a police staff report that indicated collisions have decreased at the seven intersections they are currently installed at.

    The staff report also cited data from a video survey conducted at Greenback Lane and Park Oaks Drive that recorded one left-turn violation, 30 straight-through violations, and 26 right-turn violations during a 12-hour period captured on video. A similar 12-hour survey of northbound Auburn Boulevard at Greenback Lane showed 20 left-turn violations, two straight-through violations, and 20 right-turn violations.

    Councilwoman Jeannie Bruins, who voted in support for the additional cameras, said she received a red light ticket in the city for rolling through a right turn on red during the first year cameras were activated in 2008.

    “I’m a much better driver now,” she said, sharing her personal experience after getting a red light ticket. “I paid my fine, went to traffic school, and have been stopping at red lights ever since.”

    Bruins said she supports the cameras because “statistically, they work.”

    Daniels, who has a law enforcement background as a former Sacramento County Sheriff’s Deputy, disagrees and said he’s “not convinced red light cameras make things safer.” He told The Sentinel, “statistics say anything you want them to say.”

    So what does the collision data actually show?
    Collision data indicates mixed results. A growing number of California cities have discontinued using red light cameras, citing a variety of reasons including cost and a lack of conclusive evidence that collisions were reduced. In nearby Roseville, the city dropped its red light contract in 2009 after traffic surveys couldn’t find enough potential red light violators to make the system pay for itself, according to the Roseville Press-Tribune.

    The City of Gardena in Southern California dropped its red light camera program in 2011, with its mayor citing cost and “the lack of evidence that the program is in fact being effective,” according to area news reports. The cities of Davis and Rocklin also discontinued using red light cameras over cost concerns, although Rocklin officials said its program had been effective in reducing collisions.

    In Citrus Heights, collision data presented by police for the council’s July 13 meeting showed a drop in total collisions at all intersections with red light cameras, ranging from a five percent drop at Auburn Boulevard and Greenback Lane to a 65 percent drop at Sunrise Boulevard and Oak Avenue. The data compared three and five year periods before and after the installation of cameras.

    However, despite the drop in overall collisions, police statistics show the number of injury collisions actually increased by 12 to 25 percent at the majority of intersections in Citrus heights where red light cameras are currently installed.

    See collision data: July 13 Meeting Agenda Packet

    Asked about the reason for the injury increase, Citrus Heights Police Lt. David Gutierrez said it’s “too hard to pinpoint why there would be more injuries at an intersection.” He said a possible reason could be that a single collision where multiple occupants were injured would be categorized as multiple injuries. But the injury increase has also been a trend noted in other cities.

    A red light camera study commissioned by the Chicago Tribune found a similar rise in injury collisions after the cameras were implemented in the city of Chicago, along with an overall drop in the total number of collisions. The 2015 study found a 22 percent increase of injury rear-end collisions occurred after red light cameras were installed, apparently caused by drivers hitting the brakes to avoid getting a red light ticket.

    Asked whether rear-ending could be the cause of the injury increase in Citrus Heights, Lt. Gutierrez said “we have never noticed that trend here.”

    Collision data from Citrus Heights also came under question in a 2015 Sacramento County Grand Jury report that found “the actual reduction in accidents cannot be verified,” due to what it called inaccurate and inconsistent collision data provided by the police department. The report also said the city “chronically and systematically ignores its own policies for oversight, testing, monitoring, maintenance and record keeping.”

    In official responses to the grand jury’s report, the police department disputed the grand jury finding on collision data and other items, but said the city had internally corrected several aspects regarding maintenance, testing and regular data analysis.

    Document: read the Grand Jury report

    Citrus Heights’ red light camera contract with Redflex Traffic Systems is up for renewal in December, 2018. Daniels said he supports dropping the contract entirely and criticized the program as a profit-driven system.

    “If the goal is to make things safer, and all we’re doing is pumping out thousands of red light tickets, then we’re not making things safer,” said the councilman. “We’re just costing citizens a lot of money and allowing a private company to make a lot of money.”

    Bruins, on the other hand, says the argument that red light cameras are about money “is bogus.”

    Council member claims about revenue generated by the red light program will be addressed in part two of this article, scheduled to be published in The Sentinel’s July 30 Weekend Edition. Click here to sign up free.

    Share your thoughts on red light cameras in a letter to the editor: Click here to submit a letter for publication

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