ENCINITAS — The Encinitas City Council has directed staff to study a new state pilot program and other options for bringing back red-light cameras, including their costs, potential locations and effects on traffic safety.
Senate Bill 720, which took effect Jan. 1, offers a graduated fine structure and other guidelines for cities seeking to implement red-light cameras.
Under the program, drivers would receive a $100 citation if they had not been ticketed in the previous three years, with fines rising to $500 for repeat violations. The law treats citations similarly to parking tickets, meaning violations would not count toward a driver’s DMV record, and requires cities to reinvest revenue in traffic safety projects.
In addition to studying the SB 720 pilot program, the council directed staff to explore other programs and return with information about costs, potential camera locations, traffic data and data management. The council also asked staff to examine whether flashing yellow lights could alert drivers to an impending red light.
Councilmember Luke Shaffer recommended exploring flashing yellow lights, saying the overall goal was to find ways to improve driver behavior.
“Tonight our whole job isn’t actually to start the pilot program or vote on the pilot program,” Shaffer said during the Sept. 16 meeting. “It’s just to vote whether we want to study [whether] to do a pilot program. So, as far as doing a study, I think it’s a no-brainer. We need the study. We need to see what’s going on.”
City Traffic Engineer Abe Bandegan said he had difficulty answering questions about SB 720 and related topics because staff members “haven’t really dug deep into the operation of the program” and had not previously been directed by the council to do so.
The council voted 4-1 to proceed with the study.
Deputy Mayor Jim O’Hara cast the dissenting vote, citing concerns about civil liberties, safety, private companies controlling data and potential legal issues.
“Once you give your rights away, the government usually doesn’t give them back,” O’Hara said.
He said ending the pilot program would be “not as easy as putting it in.” Citing data from Solana Beach, he also questioned whether the city needed to gather more information.
“If you want data, the data is out there,” O’Hara said. “We don’t need to use our residents as experiments to get the data if that’s really what we’re looking for.”
In February, the Mobility and Traffic Safety Commission recommended that the council explore bringing back red-light cameras under SB 720 and identify possible locations.
Encinitas installed red-light cameras at Encinitas Boulevard and El Camino Real in 2004 and at El Camino Real and the junction of Leucadia Boulevard and Olivenhain Road in 2005.
In June 2013, city data showed collisions at Encinitas Boulevard and El Camino Real fell from 25 in the three years before camera installation to 10 during 2010-2012. At El Camino Real, Leucadia Boulevard and Olivenhain Road, collisions declined from 26 to 23 over the corresponding periods.
Across both intersections, collisions attributed to red-light running fell from 12 to eight. Supporters cited safety benefits, while critics questioned the reductions and raised concerns about $500 tickets.
Following a 2019 council vote against renewing the program’s contract, camera enforcement ended when the contract expired in May 2020.
During public comments, some speakers opposed bringing back the cameras, citing their reactive nature, surveillance concerns and questions about their effectiveness in improving roadway safety.
Steve Linke, a former member of the Carlsbad Traffic Safety and Mobility Commission, presented data he collected from state agencies comparing crashes at the two Encinitas intersections during and after the camera program. His analysis showed crashes declined by more than 50% after the cameras were removed, a trend he said differed from those at neighboring intersections in his data set.
“The crash numbers are low and the data is very noisy, so it will be challenging to assess the success of putting any cameras back in, but this gives you somewhat of a perspective,” Linke said. “I’m not opposed in any way to a pilot program, but the Encinitas data suggests cameras may actually increase crashes and injuries, and they would not, likely, address the root causes of the three recent very tragic fatalities. So, resources may be better focused on other strategies more likely to be effective like distracted driving enforcement.”
Other speakers questioned the analysis, citing its small sample size and failure to account for the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
John Chalekian said his personal interest in the subject, and his academic and professional experience examining similar studies, led him to a different conclusion. Chalekian said insurance companies favor red-light cameras “because the value of a human life is pretty strong and the cost of a fatality is severe.”
“The net findings of the red light camera safety studies suggest they reduce the most dangerous types of crashes leading to meaningful reductions in injuries and fatalities,” he said. “Although increases in rear-end collisions are observed, these crashes are typically less severe. Perhaps there is no utopia, but the fender bender in comparison to the loss of a human life seems [like a] favorable trade-off.”
Lara Grimmer, a founding member of Safe Streets Encinitas, which formed after Emery Chalekian’s death, said red-light cameras would influence driver behavior.
“Upon encountering a yellow light, the presence of red light cameras are known to shift a driver’s perspective from ‘I can probably get away with it if I punch the gas’ to ‘it’s safer and smarter to stop,’” Grimmer said.
Capt. Shane Watts of the North Coastal Sheriff’s Station said physical limitations can make enforcement difficult, particularly at the city’s larger intersections.
“It can be challenging where the motor positions themselves,” Watts said. “It’s either they’re going to be on a sidewalk, or they’re going to be in the bike lane, which presents problems.
“People tend to obey the law when we are present and they can see us, just like with stop signs.”
Mayor Bruce Ehlers said further discussion of red-light cameras was part of a “patchwork of solutions to change the behavior” of drivers. He said he was interested in whether the cameras could have a “halo effect” on driver behavior elsewhere in the city and expressed concern about drivers running stop signs.
“I don’t mean California stops,” Ehlers said. “I mean don’t-even-hit-the-brakes, right on through Rancho Santa Fe Road. I see it every night.”
Councilmember Marco San Antonio supported further study of red-light cameras but said: “The starting point has to be data.”
“It’s something that needs to be explored,” San Antonio said. “One death is too many. I do believe vision zero is a possibility. It’s a goal, and I would love to shoot for that.
“We can’t do it if we don’t try something different – we don’t try something new or I know this is not new but this is a new program.”
He added that SB 720 had some “guardrails to address some of the people’s concerns about privacy.”
Councilmember Joy Lyndes said roadway safety was “a top priority” and would require a range of tools, potentially including red-light cameras if further evidence and discussion support their use.
“I know we all value human life,” Lyndes said. “If it saves one life, it’s totally worth it. So my thought is why wouldn’t we enforce red light running?”
