The legendary California rolling stop, considered a birthright by some motorists, is under assault.
More accurately, it's under video surveillance.
Police are turning to a new weapon in the battle against red-light running – video cameras that can capture drivers who don't come to a complete stop before they turn right against a red.
Old-style red-light cameras only click snapshots of straight-through or left-turn violators.
Video-cams – now showing up at selected Sacramento area intersections – bring slow-and-go right turns into the picture. They record vehicles for 12 seconds – six seconds before the vehicle reaches the limit line and six after.
Police love the new technology. Critics question whether it's about boosting safety or bolstering city budgets.
"We found it's effective and accurate," said police Sgt. John Osbourn of Marysville, where last year 9,128 drivers were cited at three intersections for straight-through, right and left violations.
Marysville installed the controversial cameras several years ago, two of them on Third Street, the heavily trafficked main drag to and from Highway 70.
Elk Grove has had two video cameras in action since February, both on Laguna Boulevard. Citrus Heights is online. Rocklin added a video camera last week on Rocklin Road near Sierra College, and Roseville expects to install video-cams soon at four intersections, probably including Sunrise Avenue and Cirby Way.
But the big leap is Sacramento's move: Later this year the city and county will replace 20 snapshot red-light cameras with video, including at Howe Avenue and Fair Oaks Boulevard.
Police say video-cams – which record only vehicles that appear to violate the law – provide a big assist as fewer officers are available to monitor increasingly congested and dangerous intersections.
"It's about safety," Elk Grove spokesman Chris Trim said.
Expensive tickets
It's also causing sticker shock for unsuspecting drivers who find a $371 citation in the mail for some half-forgotten right turn. Revenues from red-light tickets are divided among the state, county and city.
Susan Little of Sacramento wonders if right-turn ticketing, caught on video, is overkill.
She was heading home from church in Elk Grove on a Sunday morning when a video camera captured what she believes was a full stop – albeit in the crosswalk – as she turned onto Laguna Boulevard from Franklin Boulevard.
"I felt walloped," she said. "There were hardly any cars out. I wasn't the perfect driver. But you wonder whether this is really safety enforcement or is this an indirect tax."
Elk Grove, which pays a private camera company a monthly fee, netted about $20,000 in April from red-light citations, the only month for which full city data are available.
Elk Grove police spokesman Trim said early data suggest video cameras are serving a safety purpose citywide.
"We're down by over 20 collisions from last year," he said. "That is what the red-light program is designed to do."
That's what Sacramento traffic officials want from their ambitious video plans.
Sacramento County Sheriff's Department Lt. Richard Carlson said his agency might aim some cameras at right-turn lanes if crash data indicate there is a real hazard.
"Are we seeing collisions there?" he said. "We're going to go by that in deciding where to monitor right turns."
Not every police department is spotlighting right-turn lanes.
Selective use
Roseville police say their initial cameras probably won't include right-turn lanes in their view field. Each camera can view and record up to four lanes at once.
And Rocklin officials say they don't emphasize right turns.
"Those are pretty minor accidents where you almost come to a stop and roll through," Rocklin Sgt. Terry Roide said. "We're looking at where you get your big accidents, where cars are making left turns or going straight through at 30 miles per hour."
In Elk Grove, where right-turn tickets have become the norm, police say illegal right turns are a special hazard for pedestrians.
Call The Bee's Tony Bizjak, (916) 321-1059.
