Communities North County (San Diego Union Tribune Aug. 23, 2018
Encinitas extends red light camera contract by 18 months
Encinitas has voted to extend for 18 months its contract for red light cameras like these, photographed in 2014 in Vista.
Encinitas has voted to extend for 18 months its contract for red light cameras like these, photographed in 2014 in Vista. (U-T File)
Barbara HenryContact Reporter

Encinitas will keep its red light traffic cameras at two El Camino Real intersections, but the city's new contract with camera provider Redflex will be for a much shorter term, the City Council decided Wednesday night.

City staff had proposed a five-year contract with three, one-year extensions, but the council ultimately backed a contract of no more than 18 months. The council split over the issue, voting 3-2, with councilmen Tony Kranz and Mark Muir opposed to the shorter term.

Mayor Catherine Blakespear put forward the 18-month-maximum proposal, saying she thought Encinitas ought to contemplate ending its traffic camera program as many other cities in San Diego County have done. Del Mar and Solana Beach have kept their cameras, but cities that have terminated their camera programs in recent years include Escondido, Oceanside, Poway, San Diego and Vista.

"My support for this program is actually waning," Blakespear said, mentioning that one key reason is that she believes the $490 tickets that drivers receive for running a red light is far too high.

Councilwoman Tasha Boerner Horvath said she thought Encinitas ought to focus on speeding drivers in residential neighborhoods, instead of the red-light camera program, while Councilman Joe Mosca said he thought the city might still get a good contract deal with Redflex even if it went with the 18-month term period.

Kranz and Muir disagreed, saying staff members have indicated that the city may save $20,000 by going with a five-year contract, and stressed that the proposed contract also contained an extremely flexible termination clause allowing the city to opt out at any point. Ticket fees cover the cost of operating the camera program, but even if the city had to put in a bit of a subsidy, Kranz said he would support it.

"The reality for me is I don't see this as a revenue generator, I'm trying to reduce people running red lights," he said.

The city's current annual expense for the camera program, including the Redflex contract as well as other costs associated with issuing the tickets, is $227,578, city traffic engineer Abraham Bandegan said. The city's ticket revenue varies from year to year, but typically it's $250,000 to $300,000, though it was at the low end of that scale last year, he said.

Encinitas first signed a contract with Redflex in 2004. The company's camera equipment has been installed at El Camino Real's intersection with Encinitas Boulevard and its intersection with Leucadia Boulevard/Olivenhain Road. At the Encinitas Boulevard intersection, the cameras keep tabs on eastbound Encinitas Boulevard and southbound El Camino Real; while at the other intersection, the cameras monitor westbound Olivenhain Road.

These are two of the busiest intersections in town, and the cameras' installation was backed by Sheriff deputies, who said using cameras to take pictures of offenders' license plates is much safer than having deputies on motorcycles chase down red-light runners.

Nearly all of the people who are caught on camera running the red lights at the Encinitas intersections — 99 percent — are first-time offenders, and 80 percent of the people who receive tickets don't live in Encinitas, Bandegan said.

While council members split Wednesday night over the camera program, city Traffic and Public Safety Commissioners voted 4-0, with three commissioners absent, in July to back the program, saying they felt it provided a huge public safety benefit.

Statistics indicate that there were an average of 8.7 accidents a year at El Camino's intersection with Encinitas Boulevard before the cameras were installed. That fell to 4.8 accidents a year afterward, Bandegan said. At the Leucadia Boulevard/Olivenhain Road intersection, the figure was 9.2 accidents before the cameras' installation, and 6.3 accidents afterward.

 

Barbara Henry is a freelance writer who covers the city of Encinitas.

    
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