Police test traffic cameras to capture drivers who run red lights in the Tenderloin

By Julio Bonilla

Digital cameras have been installed in the Tenderloin district to identify motorists who run red lights, but they won’t be put into operation until testing is completed.

The four cameras were installed at the intersection of Ellis and Larkin on Nov. 13 and 14.

“Red light cameras have been installed at Ellis/Larkin but have not yet been commissioned by the city,” said Judson True, media relations manager of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA). “Warning tickets will be issued during the first 30 days of operation to inform motorists of the new enforcement system.”

The fine for running a red light is $446, according to San Francisco Police Lt. Lyn Tomioka.

“Ellis and Larkin was selected for automated red light photo enforcement through a citywide review of where the most collisions occur due to red light running, investigation of existing traffic engineering measures, field surveys, as well as an analysis of the geographic dispersion of existing red light cameras,” True said. “There are no other red-light cameras planned for the Tenderloin area at this time.”

According to the SFMTA, violating red lights is a serious safety issue. Red light violators cause about 25 percent of all injury collisions at signaled intersections in San Francisco, according to its website.

Richard Cho, spokesman for the SFMTA’s red light camera program, said the total cost of the project was $8,300, Cho said. The price of each camera is $2,000.

The cameras, which capture moving images when sensors detect that a car has passed through a red light, have to undergo testing.

“There are still problems with some of the ‘loops’ on Larkin Street,” said Cho, who explained that loops and wireless sensors are the devices that detect vehicles on roadway,

While the only red light camera in the Tenderloin is at the intersection of Ellis and Larkin, there are other cameras throughout the city.

The first cameras were installed October 1996 at 19th Ave and Sloat Blvd, Pine Street and Presidio Avenue, Seventh Street and Mission Street, Fifth Street and Howard Street, and Ninth Street and Howard Street. The program, started by Jack Lucero Fleck and Bridget B. Smith of the San Francisco Department of Parking and Traffic, made San Francisco the first city in California to use automated enforcement for red light violations, according to the SFMTA Web site.

Digital camera technology is better than its wet-film counter-part as it allows for remote downloading of the image, making in unnecessary for the technician to visit the site for manual film removal, True said. Digital technology gives off a 12-second video clip of the violation which can be used as evidence for each violation.

“There has been a red light camera system installed at Oak and Octavia Street, scheduled to go into operation at the same time a Ellis/ Larkin,” True said. “The next systems are anticipated to be installed at Market/Gough Streets and Fell/Masonic Streets.

Some residents think it would be a good idea to put more red-light cameras throughout the neighborhood. “It would be better,” said Mona Hagan, a desk clerk at one of the neighborhood’s single room occupancy hotels. “You see a lot of cars going through red lights.”

Others, however, think that the main reason for having more cameras is to enable the city to collect ticket fines.

“I’ve never heard of people getting run over,” retired carpenter Larry Johnson, a 10-year-resident of the Tenderloin District said. “[The reason is] for making money,” Johnson said, referring to how “They spend more money on cameras than [giving out] tickets.”

“I don’t think they should have [cameras],” unemployed-resident Dellanzo Carter said. “It would
be a waste of money.”