SACRAMENTO, CA – For more than a decade, cameras have captured countless Sacramento County red-light runners. However, there have been 25 inoperative red-light cameras since the beginning of 2019.
Therefore, the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors elected a new vendor to turn the cameras back on. Additionally, the new two-year vendor contract is estimated to cost more than $1.7 million.
Furthermore, the previous company, Conduent was terminated because of a failed agreement. There were no functioning photo enforcement sites as per the contract with the county.
Moreover, county documents state that Conduent had a difficult time securing the necessary permits in order to make the sites operational in time. Additionally, the wiring required to operate the red-light photo enforcement system could not be installed as well.
Therefore, the contract between Conduent and the county was terminated on May 15, although it was supposed to expire on Dec. 31.
Furthermore, the board began a new contract with Redflex Holdings, which administered the red-light cameras before Conduent. The county is certain that the new contract with Redflex will have the 25 red-light cameras functioning within 30 days of its new contract.
Not only does red-light camera enforcement sites reduce the number of crashes, but it is also less expensive than employing patrol enforcement in the area.
However, the National Motorists Association is against all computerized traffic enforcement because they don’t believe it improves safety. Additionally, they believe automated enforcement systems violate constitutional rights. Also, adding that these devices interrupt the synchronization of the lights as well.
In fact, the National Motorists Association thinks that a better substitute to the red-light cameras would be to make traffic lights more noticeable. Also, increasing the yellow light time, as well as adding red intervals, where all lights are red at the same time.