LA City Council Continues Red Light Camera Debate

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We have a little more time to wait, but things aren't looking good for the future of red light cameras in LA. As reported in the LA Times,  the Council needs at least eight votes to take any action on the program. Currently, five councilmembers have voted in favor of continuing the cameras--at least long enough to do additional analysis of their effectiveness-- while seven councilmembers would like to end the program immediately. The debate will continue at today's meeting, and again until there are at least eight votes one way or the other.

Best quote of the hearing, from Councilmember Parks in response to the assertion that a $500 red-light ticket could devastate a low-income family, "What is even more devastating is if you lose a life or cripple someone for life because of a traffic accident."

Most discouraging assertion by the LA Times, "A Times investigation in 2008 found that some cities, including Los Angeles, get most of their photo enforcement money from citing slower, rolling-stop right turns, which many experts say cause fewer and less serious accidents." That might hold true for vehicle crashes, but I'd like to see the data for pedestrian crashes...  

This week on foot

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This week has been full of debate on the red light camera issue. As you know, Two L.A. councilmen want to hold off ending red-light camera program--but many Angelenos would like to see the program disappear, like Jay Beeber: Folk Hero Stops L.A.'s Red Light Cameras. Even the Freakonomics blog has weighed in, and it's Seeing Red: Why L.A. Needs to Keep its Traffic Light Cameras. The City Council Delays Vote on Red Light Camera Until Tuesday, so it looks like we'll be hearing more about this issue for at least another couple days.

And why do we want those cameras? Two words: pedestrian safety. We're certainly missing it here in Southern California, where just this week there was a Pedestrian killed in Hollywood, and in SAN MARCOS: Pedestrian hit by vehicle, dies. Further east a Pedestrian killed by Metrolink train in Palmdale (okay, probably a camera couldn't have stopped that one, but it's still a sad statement about the dangers pedestrians face.)

Ironically, just as many Angelenos are arguing over red light cameras, the LA Times reports that Crosswalks are increasingly deadly for the elderly within the region. It just goes to show that Walkability’ key to an age-friendly city.
Of course, elsewhere in the country things are a little brighter. Traffic, pedestrian deaths in Utah trending toward new low in 2011; safety efforts credited. Meanwhile, In Washington County, momentum grows for adding bicyclists, pedestrians into transportation system, while an Oregon Bill clarifies traffic stops for pedestrians and in Chicago Diagonal crossings, fewer right on reds could give pedestrians a leg up.

But that doesn't mean everyone out there is supporting pedestrians. In Canada, a Saskatoon pedestrian hit by car to be ticketed, while in Nogales a Pedestrian circulation study sparks debate over priorities. Seems to me that there isn't much to debate when you consider the Lost Value from Wide Streets...but I guess I'm a little biased.

Vote Delayed on Red Light Cameras

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LA city councilmembers have delayed their vote on the City's red light camera program until next Tuesday to allow more of the council to attend the meeting and vote on the issue. While not a "win," this does indicate that the council is taking the issue seriously --and it gives you more time to contact your councilmember to encourage them to vote in support of the program. In partciular, Paul Koretz, Bill Rosendahl, and my own rep Dennis Zine have indicated their opposition to continuing the program. Tony Cardenas and Bernard C. Parks made the motion to extend the program while additional evaluation is performed.

You can sign a petition in support of the RLC program by clicking here (full disclosure: the petition is sponsored by the Traffic Safety Coaltion. While the coalation itself is a non-profit made up of a diverse group of traffic safety advocates, they do receive their funding from RLC companies.) Alternatively, you can contact your councilmember directly (info on the City's website here)--or even better, do both!

Red Light Cameras

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Perhaps you've been following the debate over the City of Los Angeles' abrupt move to consider eliminating its red light photo enforcement program in the LA Times or Streetsblog. For reasons I'll discuss in a moment, I believe this is dangerous and shortsighted on the part of the City, and I hope you'll join me in speaking out in support of red light cameras ASAP (the City Council will take this issue up in the next few days).

The Traffic Safety Coalition has already put together a petition for you to sign in support of the cameras, conveniently saving me the effort of having to create one myself. Please take a moment to sign here--I promise it won't take more than a minute, and it will help us send the right message to the City Council before it's too late. Do it now, I'll wait.

Finished? Okay, let's talk a little more about the issue of red light cameras in LA. As you're surely aware, red light cameras (aka RLCs) spark some serious, and often misinformed, vitriol. Setting aside the more ludicrous arguments against the cameras (sorry, nothing in the US constitution protects your "right" to run a red light), there are legitimate questions regarding their effectiveness. Here are a few of the latest studies on the subject:

• Safety Evaluation of Red-Light Cameras
• An evaluation of the effectiveness of red- light cameras at signalized intersections
• The effectiveness of red-light cameras: a meta-analysis of the evaluation studies

Each shows that there are indeed reductions in crashes at intersections where RLCs are installed, though the studies acknowledge that in some cases the total reduction is diminished due to increases in particular types of collisions.

This Week on Foot

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This week begins with some outrageous decisions from our legal system. First, there's No jail time for driver who killed pedestrian in a crosswalk because he was paying more attention to his text messages than the road in front of him. Then, the Kenosha DA won't charge driver in 2010 pedestrian death in Wisconsin, because the pedestrian was walking down the wrong side of the road at dusk in dark clothing--which apparently is a greater crime than drinking and getting behind the wheel, as the driver in this case did.

And as if a biased legal system wasn't enough, pedestrians still have to deal with the problem of poor pedestrian design, as pointed out to us this week by Raise the Hammer with thisWalkability Fail Near St. Joseph's Hospital and this Walkability Fail At Aberdeen and Dundurn.

Fortunately there are some lawmakers who'd like to make things easier for pedestrians--or at least to give local jurisdictions more control over speed limits (and thus, more ability to lower them). As Streetsblog reports this week the Newest Attempt to Give Cities Power Over Speed Limits Gains Ground in Sacramento . But at the same time local leaders are considering making things more dangerous for pedestrians by removing red light cameras here in LA. It's a shame that L.A. traffic cameras may get the red light, since they can discourage the kinds of bad driving (e.g. illegal right turns on red) that are particularly dangerous to pedestrians.

And it is dangerous out there for pedestrians. This week there was a Man hit by minivan crossing Oxnard street , while across the country In Lower Hudson Valley, elderly pedestrians more likely to be hit (and also more likely to die from their injuries). Perhaps the Hudson Valley is facing some of the same problems as Corpus Christi, where Downtown Crosswalks Prove Too Speedy For Pedestrians: 13 Seconds Just Isn't Enough
But it's not all bad news out there. In New York,  Yeshiva University proposes new pedestrian plaza (because Public plazas are good for the city). And across the ocean Street Delivery gives the city back to pedestrians for sixth time in Romania. For those of you interested in doing the same thing, this week the Atlantic teaches you How to Turn a Parking Lot Into an Ideal Green Community.

Finally, this week we have news that its not just pedestrians who are benefiting from the pedestrian detection technology that's being installed in new vehicle models: Volvo Using Pedestrian Detection System To Spot Animals, Too.