Los Angeles Profits From Right Turn Trap

The Newspaper
by The Newspaper

An intersection in Los Angeles, California is billing drivers nearly $500 for making a turn in the split-second before a permissive green turn arrow appears. Los Angeles hired American Traffic Solutions to operate thirty-two cameras in order to generate about $4 million a year in revenue. The cameras now pounce on drivers making technical mistakes on right-hand turns.

Motorist Stephen Lo found this out the hard way while driving his 2004 Nissan 350Z at the intersection of Sepulveda and Victory Boulevards at around 1:30pm on January 4. As he slowed to make his turn, looking both ways, a 0.6 second gap appeared between the end of the yellow light and the illumination of the green arrow. Because Lo was caught in between the split-second lag between the lights, the photographic evidence showed him apparently breaking the law. A look at the video evidence, however, shows that the vehicle’s front wheels had barely entered the intersection by the time that the green arrow appeared.

“I might just decide to pay the ticket,” Lo told TheNewspaper. “I weighed my options and I don’t have time to go into court to battle this out.”

Lo found himself in the company of about 80 percent of recipients of tickets in Los Angeles who were billed for making rolling right hand turns, according to a 2008 Los Angeles Times report. Despite the heavy focus on right-hand turns for citations, of the 1926 collisions reported at enforced locations between 2006 and 2008, only 2.6 percent were caused by “unsafe turns” — a figure which includes the much more common left-hand turn collisions.

[Courtesy: TheNewspaper.com]

The Newspaper
The Newspaper

More by The Newspaper

Comments
Join the conversation
5 of 9 comments
  • Davejay Davejay on Apr 23, 2010

    Honestly, as someone who lives in Los Angeles near this intersection, as much as I don't like the red light camera thing -- enough people do these rolling stops (the so-called "California stop") that I'm not surprised they're trying to ticket for it. The delay between yellow light and green arrow is to help keep people from starting on the green only to be nailed by the person running the yellow-now-red (also far too common here), and he should start coming to a full stop before turning right on red. Disclaimer: I'm sick of swerving into the next lane to avoid people who do this when the light isn't anywhere near to green, and it happens at least a few times a day (and I don't even drive that far!)

    • Russycle Russycle on Apr 23, 2010

      I don't live in LA anymore, but looking at the video, the only traffic moving through that intersection is coming from from the camera's point of view. Opposing and intersecting traffic is stopped. So there can't be anyone trying to beat a yellow that could impact a driver making a right. The green right arrow should be lit while the rest of the lights are green and stay lit while the others cycle yellow to red. I see a lot of intersections like this, the programming of the right arrow makes no sense at all....unless they're trying to generate tickets.

  • Detlump Detlump on Apr 23, 2010

    If it's such a problem then post a police car there and issue tickets. These cameras make it too easy and cheap for cities to rake in money. What if something else happened in the intersection? Say, a hit and run pedestrian, with a car going across the camera view (so no visible plates)? A cop at that corner could act immediately. Will the camera call the police? Will the person viewing the camera (in Mumbai) call the police? I doubt it, at any rate they will be long gone. People will get used to seeing police at the corner and stop the illegal turns. A good cop can hand out several tickets an hour, at $500 a pop, that should cover his pay for the day.

  • Nicholas Weaver Nicholas Weaver on Apr 23, 2010

    Actually, whats really disturbing is the city of LA gets diddly-squat of that $500 ticket. In CA, there is the base fine (which is, I believe, $25 or $50 for this violation), which gets split either equally or benefiting the county between the city and county. The rest is all enhancements which go to the state, the county courts, or other such usages. So really, after deducting the cost of the cameras, the city of LA is only raising perhaps $10 a ticket in revenue, but costing the motorists $500!

  • Mrcrispy Mrcrispy on Apr 23, 2010

    Is there any way for citizens to overturn these stupid revenue generating laws? Why doesn't every such bill have to be approved and voted on by the community before it passes?

Next