The West Hollywood City Council will take up on Monday a controversial proposal to ticket drivers who make right turns at red lights without stopping if they exceed certain speeds.
The ticketing would be implemented by using a newly installed red-light camera system, which captures the license plate numbers of cars that run red lights. The city’s previous system could only effectively capture those running red lights across intersections, not those making right turns on red. Those turns are legal, but only if a driver comes to a full stop to ensure no one else is entering the intersection.
The controversy over the proposed ticketing process stems in part from the cost of those tickets. While the actual fine for running a red light is $100, the state legislature over the years has tacked on numerous fee to support a variety of projects including maintaining courthouses and a DNA registry. Those fees boost the actual cost of a ticket to $490.
In a forum on WEHOville about the proposal, more than a dozen residents objected to it, calling it everything from a “small town speed trap” to the wrong solution for what some acknowledge is a problem that could be resolved with longer yellow light signals.
In a report to the City Council, city staff members note that “both the cities of Beverly Hills and Culver City operate Red Light Photo Enforcement Programs which include enforcement of right turn on red violations. These cities have both issued citations for non-stopping right turn violations for approximately 18 years, since the original commencement of their Red Light Photo Enforcement Programs. Enforcement of right turn on red violations is supported by the Superior Court judges assigned to preside over West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and Culver City’s Red Light Photo Enforcement cases.
The report notes that during a 30-day period after installation of the new red light cameras, “the Sheriff’s Department identified safety concerns with 250 incidents where the cameras documented motorists making non-stopping right turns on red. Of these incidents, approximately 100 involved non-stopping right turns on red at speeds at or over 15 miles per hour. Approximately 150 involved public safety issues related to non-stopping right turns on red with vehicle speeds in the range between 10 and 15 miles per hour.”
The new red light system now is active at eight intersections:
— La Brea at Fountain (northbound)
— La Brea at Fountain (southbound)
— Beverly at Robertson (eastbound)
— Beverly at Robertson (westbound)
— La Brea at Santa Monica (eastbound)
— La Brea at Santa Monica (northbound)
— La Cienega at Melrose (northbound)
— La Cienega at Melrose (southbound)
The City Council will meet at 6:30 p.m. on Monday at the City Council Chambers, 625 N. San Vicente Blvd., south of Santa Monica. Parking, free with a validated ticket, is available in the five-story structure behind the Council Chambers.
All you weho council member voted yes. So maybe you elected the wrong people to represent you
wow, it’s feeling a bit like a police state is taking over weho. I’d rather see security camera’s around town – even the fake kind with a sign “you are being recorded on video – to stop what feels to me like a not so sudden but constant growing of aggressive assaults and robberies against weho Residents, their homes and cars.
Safety yes. Just to generate revenue – I don’t like it.
At night , On National blvd and Washington blvd . I saw a sign of Red light canera enforced sign then I compleat stopped on red light as usual for the right hand turn l peeked for incoming cars or what not from left all of suden i saw a flashes coming everywhere like a CELEBRETY PARTY !! If i did made a wrong move I would admit it but I saw the red light CAMERA ENFORCED SIGN sign and my GPS OB DASHBOARD tellIng me There are red light cameras so I was EXTRA CAREFULL ABOUT IT . after… Read more »
WeHo residents need to attend the Monday meeting to say NO to right on red camera tickets. Research by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows right on red turns, including those with or without a full stop, are involved in only six one-hundredths of one percent (0.06% or 0.0006) of crashes with injuries or fatalities. Right on red camera tickets go almost entirely to safe drivers who endangered no one – for the express purpose of profits. But enforcement for profits is 100% wrong, 100% of the time. GO to the Monday meeting and demand the answer be NO… Read more »
What’s more important than a LIFE. I am a bicyclist & see drivers speeding & rolling RIGHT THROUGH THE RED LIGHT WITHOUT STOPPING OR EVEN LOOKING. With so many drivers on their cellphones, on prescription drugs & drunk or all & any of the above WHO WOULD BE AGAINST SAVING EVEN ONE LIFE? Those of your who are discounting life & disability should be ashamed of yourselves!
The right turn maneuver is responsible for less than 1% of all crashes. It is NOT a safety threat, but it is profitable to enforce. This is for MONEY only.
The Robo-Garage isn’t going to pay for itself.
Where are those large signs that provided notice of ‘Camera enforcement’? They appear to have disappeared. Without them, it is nothing more than a gotcha trap, plain and simple. There can be no argument about preventing accidents or slowing traffic.
If anything, several times I have encountered people who slammed on their brakes when they see a camera, nearly causing an accident they are supposed to prevent. They are a menace. Need real enforcement? Use a deputy for peak periods.
Let’s stop kidding anyone. There is no prevention, no education, nothing but a trap.
It’s all about revenue.
Red light cameras, in general, are just wrong. The City of Los Angeles did away with them.
Well this is ridiculous. Not the cameras as a county Sheriff didn’t come to a fill stop at Kings and Santa Monica and almost hit me. But the amount is outrageous. Maybe the city would do well to enforce the state and local law as it applies to marked handicap parking and walkway being blocked by a motorcycle store at the corner of Fairfax and Willoughby which prevents the disable from accessing the sidewalk that is legally marked as an ADA path of travel but blocked by a dozen motorcycles in display for sale. I would gladly donate 600 to… Read more »
Funny how all of those cameras are at the borders of WeHo, where they’re more likely to get non-residents. Too bad non-residents don’t get a say at the city council meetings.
La Cienega & Santa Monica Blvd