Red-light cameras in Davis have been given the, well, red light.
Outdated technology, soured public sentiment and changing enforcement tactics prompted the Davis Police Department to abandon the eight-year-old program last fall, shutting off the city’s last two operating red-light cameras at First and E streets and Russell Boulevard at Sycamore Lane.
The decision came down in October, after the police department learned the cameras needed a technology upgrade “that was going to require us to do an entirely new bid,” Assistant Police Chief Darren Pytel said this week.
Police officials weighed that against a decline in collisions, dwindling public confidence in red-light cameras — not just in Davis, but in cities across the country — as well as the amount of effort spent reviewing violations that motorists had disputed.
“A lot of administrative time was being eaten up, and it does create a burden,” Pytel said.
At the same time, the department began enjoying a fully staffed motorcycle and bike-officer program whose officers tend to bring a less sterile approach to traffic enforcement.
“With red-light cameras we really do miss the opportunity to educate as well,” Pytel said, noting that officers also can address issues such as distracted driving, seat belt violations and other safety matters during a traffic stop. “It takes two people talking, and I think people do appreciate a face-to-face interaction.”
Now, the $60,000 in savings from the camera program will be shifted toward upgrades in parking enforcement technology, including license plate readers, digital citation processing and an automated permitting program, where parking enforcement officers can determine by scanning a license plate whether the vehicle has the proper parking permit.
Pytel said his agency currently is preparing a request for proposals for the new technology and will be seeking bids in about a month.
The red-light cameras first came to Davis in the spring of 2006, when red-light violations were cited as the city’s fourth-leading cause of traffic collisions. The technology allowed police to identify and ticket drivers who entered the targeted intersections after the traffic light had turned red.
Over the years, police touted a 50-percent drop in both injury and property-damage crashes, attributing the improvement not only to the cameras but also a beefed-up traffic unit and educational outreach.
Eventually, the department discontinued its use of the cameras at two intersections — Chiles Road at Mace Boulevard in South Davis and Pole Line Road at Fifth Street in East Davis — both of which were turned off in 2009.
In East Davis, the low number of violations at the newly expanded intersection made the camera’s continued use unjustified, police said at the time.
It was a similar story on Chiles Road at Mace, but only after the city’s traffic engineers realized the problem was the intersection’s confusing signal configuration for eastbound left-turning drivers. Once that was fixed, the number of collisions there plummeted.
While cameras at the East and South Davis locations were left up to raise driver awareness, Pytel said the equipment at all four intersections will be removed once the city receives the proper permits and hires someone to do the job.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene