SAN FRANCISCO RED LIGHT CAMERA ENFORCEMENT PROGRAM

Throughout the country, red light running is a serious phenomenon. In San Francisco, California, 25 percent of all traffic collisions at signalized intersections stem from red light violations, far exceeding the state average. This paper examines the state's efforts to tackle this problem head on by enacting sweeping legislative change and creative enforcement measures that incorporate advanced traffic camera technology to photograph violators. Indeed, California was the first state to pass legislation with enforcement "teeth" enabling its cities to use photo technology to capture red light violators. San Francisco is the state's first municipality to implement California's relatively untried image-capturing method: frontal photography. In order to assess the feasibility and acceptance of the program in the city and county of San Francisco, the city chose a pilot approach using three vendors to contrast the different types of technology and processes involved in ticketing and court adjudication. Since one vendor declined to proceed, San Francisco proceeded to employ two vendors to pilot this service.