By John F. Hill
The Press Enterprise
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — The costs and benefits of red light cameras were debated into the night in Murrieta on Tuesday, as the City Council considered whether to keep using the devices.
Residents opposed to the cameras told the council they increased rear-end collisions, violated civil liberties and were nothing more than a government money-grab. Those in favor said they save lives.
The council was still listening to testimony from the public at 10 p.m.
Amy LaBruyere, a Temecula resident who said she often drives in Murrieta, said the cameras have been shown to increase rear-end collisions. A Murrieta police analysis found such crashes did increase at the intersections with the cameras over the past five years, but attributed some of that to the city’s population growth.
“I am one of those people who will slam on their brakes to not go through that light,” she said. “Having children in that car, that’s really not something I relish.”
Other speakers were worried about civil rights and privacy violations.
“I ought to be able to drive or walk on public roads without a camera watching me,” Francis Burns said.
But Cathy Bearse urged the council to keep the cameras. Bearse said a neighbor was hit while on Murrieta Hot Springs Road years ago, and still can’t walk.
“They’ve made my neighborhood safer,” Bearse said.
Murrieta installed the cameras in 2006. Since then, nearly 9,000 tickets have been issued.
Cameras were installed at Murrieta Hot Springs and Margarita roads; Murrieta Hot Springs and Whitewood roads; and Clinton Keith Road and Nutmeg Street.
They have brought Murrieta more than $90,000 in net revenue over five years, according to a Police Department report.
The camera company, American Traffic Solutions, has recommended moving the cameras at Murrieta Hot Springs and Margarita and at Clinton Keith and Nutmeg, where violations dropped dramatically over the past five years. Each intersection now gets less than one violation per day, according to a Murrieta Police Department report, down from 25 a day at Clinton Keith and Nutmeg and 40 per day at Murrieta Hot Springs and Margarita.
“The mission has been accomplished at those intersections,” said Cpl. Jay Froboese.
Froboese said the cameras had done their job, reducing red light violations and dangerous broadside collisions.
The new contract would also include new cameras that would provide video 24 hours a day. The current cameras turn on for only a few seconds when the system detects a possible red light violation.
The continuous video could be used by officers to locate crime suspects and missing people, the Police Department report said.
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