By Jim Walker
Your series about the Culver City red light cameras asks some very good questions.
This is an email that went to city officials on May 17.
Culver City should soon decide to end the use of red light cameras, for many different reasons.
Red light camera tickets send two-thirds to three- quarters of the total fine revenue out of the local economy with the camera company fees plus the state and county fine surcharges. This does serious economic harm to the community.
Red light cameras issue most tickets to safe drivers for small technical fouls that endanger no one. At many intersections the yellow intervals are too short for the actual approach speeds of vehicles. Federal research shows that slow rolling right on red turns almost never causes crashes.
Culver City should join these 61 California communities that have ended red light cameras or banned them before any were used: Anaheim, Bell Gardens, Belmont, Berkeley, Burlingame, City of Orange, Compton, Corona, Costa Mesa, Cupertino, East L.A., El Cajon, El Monte, Emeryville, Escondido, Fairfield, Fresno, Fullerton, Gardena, Glendale, Grand Terrace, Hayward, Indian Wells, Inglewood, Irvine, L.A. County, Laguna Niguel, Lancaster, Loma Linda, Long Beach, City of Los Angeles, Maywood, Montclair, Moreno Valley, Murrieta, Newport Beach, Paramount, Pasadena, Poway, Rancho Cucamonga, Redlands, Redwood City, Rocklin, Roseville, Rowland Heights, San Bernardino, San Carlos, San Diego, San Juan Capistrano, San Rafael, Santa Fe Springs, Santa Maria, Santa Rosa, South Gate, South Whittier, Union City, Upland, Westminster, Whittier, Yuba City, Yucaipa.
Culver City could do a real service for its residents and visitors, plus improving the economic health of the community, by ending the use of red light cameras.
(Signed)
James C. Walker
Life Member, National Motorists Association
www.motorists.org
2050 Camelot Road
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
734-668-7842
jcwconsult@aol.com
For Front Page readers:
Here is the federal research showing that right-on-red turns are involved in only 0.4 percent of crashes at signalized intersections and only 0.06 percent of all crashes with an injury or fatality. Virtually all right on red camera tickets go to safe drivers for money, not safety.
Further, I do not believe any city should ever deal with Redflex (Culver City’s vendor) for anything. Individuals, groups and governments are affected by the company they keep. Dishonorable companies should lose their customers.
Reporting a $2,000,000 bribery scandal in Chicago.
Officials voting to give back whatever is left of $19.7 million in escrowed Redflex fines after the lawsuits are settled, due to the corrupt way Redflex won the contract in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana. Note that Jefferson Parish was truly honorable, vowing to not keep any of the revenue after the lawsuits are settled.
Mr. Walker may be contacted at jcwconsult@aol.com
