Red light cameras are nowhere near as popular as they once were with Golden State municipalities. Loma Linda and Whittier became the most recent examples of California cities unplugging their automated ticketing machines after noting that the devices both failed to reduce accidents and generate the promised amounts of revenue.
In 2005, Loma Linda allowed Redflex Traffic Systems to mail tickets, now nearly $500 each, to motorists who primarily made slow, rolling right-hand turns on red. In the second year of the program, the city lengthened the duration of the yellow light at the enforced intersection. As a result, straight-through violations -- and profit -- plunged. This convinced council members that the program was not worth keeping, but Redflex prevented the city from canceling the contract by threatening to the city to pay for three years' worth of "losses" accumulated since the signal timing change. The Australian company then took steps to conceal the long-term effect of longer yellow on straight-through citations.
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