INTERSECTION CAMERA PROGRAM RUNNING IN THE RED.

Byline: Rick Orlov Staff Writer

Los Angeles' highly-touted program using automatic cameras to catch red-light runners at dangerous intersections has crashed up against the laws of economics: Not enough tickets are being written to justify the cost.

Three months after 16 of the city's worst intersections were to have cameras installed to catch speeders running red lights, city officials were told Monday only eight had been completed and the company running the program says it's only catching three red-light crashers a day.

And at $60 each - its share of the $271 fine - the money isn't enough to continue the program, according to John Murray, a senior manager for Lockheed Martin IMS.

A clearly peeved Councilman Jack Weiss said he was dissatisfied with the answer.

``Your company was to install cameras at 16 intersections and it hasn't done so,'' said Weiss. ``I could almost understand the time problems if this was government. But you're a private firm and this is unacceptable.

``Our job here is to set policy for public safety and you are taking away our ability to do that,'' he said.

Murray, who wants to renegotiate the contract with the city to simply sell it the equipment rather than take a percentage of the fees, said collisions did not necessarily correlate to the number of people running red lights.

``Sometimes you will have accidents at intersections where it wasn't a case of someone going through a red light,'' Murray said. ``Other times, you will have a lot of people going through red lights and no accidents occur.''

Councilman Dennis Zine, a longtime Los Angeles Police Department motorcycle traffic cop, cast doubt at his contention.

``I don't mean to sound naive about this, but I was a traffic officer for a number of my 33 years in the (Los Angeles Police) Department,'' Zine said during a hearing before the City Council's Public Safety Committee.

``It seems to me if you have a number of accidents, it's because someone was running a red light,'' Zine said.

Murray said delays in installing cameras at other intersections was due to the company's preliminary field work finding the outlay of money couldn't be justified.

``We spent more than $140,000 doing studies and found there would only be three or four violations in a 24-hour period,'' Murray said. ``It didn't justify the expense in installing cameras.''

On April 27, the Daily News reported that the first camera in the San Fernando Valley at Sherman Way and Winnetka Avenue was installed in January and had issued 656 tickets in about four months - an average of more than five a day.

Weiss said he wants a review of whether the company is in breach of its contract with the city. In a letter to City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo, Weiss said he was concerned whether the firm will install the remaining cameras.

``The (company) representative appeared to indicate that (Lockheed Martin IMS) will not install any additional photo red-light systems unless the city consents to a renegotiation,'' Weiss said.

The councilman asked that Delgadillo's office determine whether the city was entitled to any penalties from the firm.

Company spokesman Mark Maddox said Lockheed Martin IMS will fulfill its contract.

``We will comply with the contract and install what we said we would,'' Maddox said. ``But we are renegotiating our contracts throughout California and the nation to get out of the business of being paid by the ticket.''

Maddox would not discuss costs, but the industry average for the camera installation at an intersection is estimated at $100,000.

Lockheed Martin IMS, which last year had $580 million in revenue from serving state and local government agencies, was put up for sale this year by its parent firm, Lockheed Martin Corp., which wanted to focus on its core aerospace and defense business. Lockheed Martin IMS Corp. was bought by Dallas-based Affiliated Computer Services Inc.

Murray said his firm was willing to install the cameras, but believed they should be put in intersections where they would have the most impact.

Another factor to consider, he said, is the ``halo effect'' of motorists becoming more wary of running the lights because either they had been ticketed or were aware of the program.

The red-light camera project has been hit with controversy around the country in recent months, particularly in San Diego where a Superior Court judge has ordered a halt to its program until an audit is performed, said Glenn Ogura, a principal transportation engineer with the Los Angeles Department of Transportation.

``They had a unique situation there where the cameras had been moved without city officials being told,'' Ogura said. ``We don't have that problem here.''

Ogura said Lockheed Martin was to install 16 cameras at different intersections by Aug. 1, but sought to change its contract before then.

``We have been talking with them and are looking at some resolution soon,'' Ogura said. ``I think, financially, they aren't doing as well as they hoped.''

A ninth location in South Central Los Angeles has been identified for the camera system, but there has been no agreement on the final seven sites - even though the city has submitted a list of 800 intersections where there have been major traffic collisions.

Ogura and police officials said it is too early to determine the effectiveness of the cameras, which are at two intersections in the San Fernando Valley - at Sherman Way and Winnetka, and at the intersection of Laurel Canyon and Victory boulevards.

``The studies we've seen show they are very effective in reducing accidents,'' Ogura said. ``We are still monitoring this to see what the overall impact is.''

Neither Ogura nor police officials could provide figures on the number of citations issued as a result of motorists being photographed running red lights.

However, as of June, LAPD sources said 5,600 citations were issued citywide as a result of the cameras, including 1,743 citations in the Valley. Officers at that time expressed their hope that the cameras, along with task forces and educational programs, could help to decrease collisions and pedestrian injuries and deaths.

On Monday, LAPD Lt. Steve Allen of the Valley Traffic Division said more time was needed to determine the impact either in the reduction of collisions at a location or an increase in citations.

Ogura said the first 16 sites were selected based on the worst intersections within the four LAPD traffic divisions in the city. In addition, each of the traffic divisions compiled a list of 200 intersections within their boundaries for future consideration.

At least one published report in April indicated the cameras were a success. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety conducted a study in Oxnard, where 11 of the city's 125 intersections have red-light cameras. Collisions dropped citywide since installation in 1997, the report said. At the intersections with cameras, injury crashes dropped 29 percent.

The Insurance Institute also found that 260,000 automobile crashes occur each year as a result of red-light runners in California - accounting for about 750 deaths.

Besides Los Angeles, San Diego and Oxnard, cities using the cameras include Beverly Hills, Culver City and San Francisco.