CAMERAS TO REGULATE INTERSECTION'S LIGHTS.

Byline: Kevin F. Sherry Daily News Staff Writer

Drivers cruising through the intersection of Lindero Canyon Road and Thousand Oaks Boulevard should smile, because they're now on candid cameras.

New traffic lanes were not the only things added during the recently completed $550,000 road widening at the city's busiest intersection. Now four video cameras will monitor traffic patterns and tell lights when to turn red or green.

The modification of three of the intersection's four corners to accommodate the new lanes meant that the signal loops in the road would be cut, said Mark Wessel, Westlake Village's deputy city traffic engineer. The project added a full northbound through lane, as well as right-turn lanes for east-, south- and westbound traffic. A westbound left-turn lane also was added.

Rather than set the lights on inefficient automatic timers until new loops could be placed months later, the city looked for other options, Wessel said.

``The video detectors became a more viable alternative,'' he said.

City traffic officials can program software that comes with the cameras to watch for vehicles stopped in a particular area of the road, for example, backed up in a particular lane for a red light.

``You take your mouse and you draw where the detection zone is to be,'' Wessel said.

If no vehicles are present, the lights remain the same. When the camera spots someone driving into view, the lights change to accommodate the new flow of traffic.

``The cameras will detect that traffic waiting,'' he said.

Best of all, Wessel can sit in the comfort of his office in Ventura and use his computer's modem to dial up the on-site computer at the intersection to get a current picture of what is happening.

``I can actually see through the cameras that are out there on the mast arm,'' he said.

The decades-old military technology used in the cameras was previously used in tanks, said Mike Deckard, the Southern California regional manager for Peek Traffic Systems.

Westlake Village's cameras do not offer full-motion video, but instead provide still pictures three to five times a second, like a security camera might, Wessel said.

``It's not a full screen, it's not high-resolution and it's not full motion,'' he said.

Still, it's better than anything the city has had up to this point, Wessel said. With the old traffic loops, the only way to make changes or investigate problems was to go out to the intersection and do it by hand, he said.

The eye of the cameras can be programmed to extend beyond the detection zone. If a light is green, the camera will scan up to 300 feet for oncoming traffic and keep the light green, Wessel said. That function prevents the light from turning yellow at an awkward moment for oncoming drivers, he said.

``We detect them farther out,'' Wessel said. ``That extends the green until they're close enough.''

Wessel wants to reassure the public that although Big Brother might be watching, he can't see that well.

``The lenses on the cameras are such that you can see a vehicle, but you can't tell if there's a person in the vehicle, you can't read a license plate,'' he said. ``It's a very different kind of camera'' than ones used to snap pictures of drivers who run red lights, he said.

On the other hand, if a pattern of accidents suddenly develops at the intersection, the cameras could be programmed to count the number of vehicles that run red lights, Wessel said.

``Maybe his timing needs to be adjusted,'' or the city could notify the Sheriff's Department that the intersection is a favorite of red-light runners, Deckard said.

The cameras work day and night, through fog and rain, Wessel said.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has tested the cameras at light-rail crossings, to prevent vehicles from being boxed between closed gates on tracks, Deckard said. Engineers also can get a different version of the cameras that give real-time pictures of what is happening around the bend.

``He could have video of what's happening at a grade crossing,'' Deckard said. ``We give him a heads-up display.''

In the future, the city could program the cameras to perform traffic surveys by noting how many vehicles, as well as their types and speeds, pass through the intersection at any given time of day, Wessel said.

Additional cameras will be added at the Via Colinas and Hedgewall Drive intersections with Lindero Canyon Road during upcoming road improvements, he said. Other local municipalities using the cameras include Ventura, Calabasas, Santa Clarita and Lancaster, Deckard said.

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PHOTO (Color) A video camera keeps tabs on traffic at the intersection of Lindero Canyon Road and Thousand Oaks Boulevard in Westlake Village.

Michael Owen Baker/Daily News