Encinitas is a great place to live, work, play, and raise a family. It has many amenities, and we are blessed with a great climate, six miles of beaches, and a low crime rate. All of this leads to a lifestyle that encourages many healthy, outdoor activities, including swimming, surfing, cycling, skateboarding, running and walking.
And this lifestyle leads to inevitable bike/pedestrian interface and conflict with cars. Traffic. The bane of modern life.
For all its quality-of-life advantages, Encinitas does face a current situation that demands attention. It finds itself in the unenviable position of having higher automobile-related accident, injury, and death rates than it should based on national standards.
A group calling itself Safer Streets Encinitas has formed. They want this City Council and Mayor to DO SOMETHING!
They are a group of residents who believe the city can and must do more to improve traffic safety, including reinstating red-light photo enforcement, commonly known as red-light cameras.
They note that after Encinitas installed red-light cameras in 2004, accident rates declined, but have risen again since the cameras were removed in 2020. The city’s experience mirrors findings from the International Institute for Traffic Safety, which reported that red-light cameras reduced fatal red-light-running crashes by 21%.
The increase in traffic accidents in Encinitas after removing red-light cameras is unsurprising and aligns with a 2017 National Safety Council study.
Opponents of red-light cameras, including state Sen. Catherine Blakespear and former council members Lisa Shaffer and Joe Mosca, often cite the steep fines, which are typically around $500.
But this is a phony argument because the fine for running a red light is the same whether you’re caught by a deputy on patrol or by an intersection camera. The only real difference between the two is that with the camera citation, the alleged violator can actually watch a video of themselves running the light.
And by the way, the city actually receives a small portion of the fine; most of the money goes to the court system and other agencies.
In the interest of full disclosure, the readers of this column should know that as a former mayor and council member, I was very involved with the original decision to install the red-light camera systems in Encinitas. These camera systems were supported by the Sheriff’s Office and the city’s Traffic and Mobility Commission.
The city chose to pay a flat monthly fee for the systems, regardless of whether they issued a single citation. Our focus was on deterrence and enforcement for safety, not on revenue generation. We looked at every system available to determine which would provide the best service to our community and chose Redflex, in part because of the video evidence, which would also be available to help establish fault in the instance of a crash.
While some cities, such as Poway and San Diego, have removed their automated enforcement systems, our neighbors, Solana Beach and Del Mar, have not.
The group Safer Streets Encinitas believes it’s time for Encinitas to reinstitute red light cameras, and I think they may have a point. Perhaps it is time for this new mayor and City Council to review the idea and the options available.
Jerome Stocks served as mayor and council member on the Encinitas City Council from 2000-2012.
1 comment
Red Light Cameras were removed for a reason. They create other problems such as people jamming on their brakes at yellow lights for fear of getting that expensive ticket.
Removing those money suckers was the only good thing Blakespear did.
Personally I don’t want them back.