TRAFFIC: Red-Light Cameras are a Fiscal Crutch, not a Safety Measure

JUNE 1, 2009 -- San Diego has tried to get it right with red-light traffic cameras in the past, to ill-effect. Now they’re back, and at three new intersections and the 30-day warning period is over.

Now, rather than a warning, you get a ticket if the camera photographs your vehicle moving through an intersection after the light has turned red. There are none downtown--yet. The three spots newly in effect are: Balboa Avenue at Kearny Villa Road, in Kearny Mesa; North Torrey Pines Road at Genesee Avenue, in Torrey Pines; and Rosecrans Street at Nimitz Boulevard.

This is a small step in the wrong direction, Big Brother. The tickets carry a minimum fine of $436. Sure, drunk drivers and those who endanger life and limb should be fined and taken off the streets. Pushing a light is not ever a good idea, but it’s not always an infraction that needs to be enforced as a black/white issue.

There are days when you’re late to pick up a child a day care, for example. And there are times when seconds count for matters that are essential to your life and can’t be explained to a camera. The classic case was the expectant father who roared through a red light and was pulled over by a cop. When told of the impending bundle of joy the cop almost always threw on his lights and yelled, “Follow me to the hospital!”

We can’t put a police officer at every intersection to sort through the nuance of every infraction, and nobody should be above the law. But red-light traffic cameras are more of a fiscal crutch than a reasonable response to traffic safety. They should go.