TRAFFIC CAMERAS NOW COUNT RED-LIGHT VIOLATORS WILL BE SUBJECT TO $341 FINE.Byline: Amy Raisin raisin, in botany and cooking raisin, dried fruit of certain varieties of grapevines bearing grapes with a high content of sugar and solid flesh. Although the fruit is sometimes artificially dehydrated, it is usually sun-dried. Darvish Staff Writer SANTA CLARITA Santa Clarita, city (1990 pop. 110,642), Los Angeles co., S Calif., suburb 30 mi (48 km) NW of downtown Los Angeles, on the Santa Clara River; inc. 1987. Situated in the Santa Clara valley and nearby canyons, Santa Clarita includes the former towns of Canyon Country, - The initiation period for the city's new stop-light camera program is over, which means drivers who go through designated red lights will now be cited and ordered to pay a $341 fine. There are five intersections rigged with the surveillance cameras in the city of Santa Clarita, and if the 30-day warning period - it ended Friday night - is any indication, there will be hundreds of drivers on the hook Adj. 1. on the hook - caught in a difficult or dangerous situation; "there I was back on the hook" dangerous, unsafe - involving or causing danger or risk; liable to hurt or harm; "a dangerous criminal"; "a dangerous bridge"; "unemployment reached dangerous for big bucks. ``We had well over 500 violations during the warning period, some really blatant,'' said Deputy Tony Arnold of the Santa Clarita sheriff's station. ``And that doesn't include all five cameras. Some of them weren't even turned on'' the entire time. A large portion of the violations filmed during the warning period happened at the intersection intersection /in·ter·sec·tion/ (-sek´shun) a site at which one structure crosses another. intersection a site at which one structure crosses another. of Whites Canyon and Soledad Canyon Soledad Canyon is a long narrow canyon / valley located in Los Angeles County, California between the cities of Palmdale and Santa Clarita. Soledad Canyon contains the localities of Vincent, Acton, Ravenna, and Agua Dulce. roads in Canyon Country, where the first camera was turned on. Like the other four locations, that intersection was chosen based on its history of traffic volume and collisions. Cameras are also operating at these intersections: Bouquet bouquet a structure resembling a cluster of flowers. Canyon and Seco Canyon roads; Orchard orchard, generally an area on which fruit or nut trees are planted and cultivated. The words grove and plantation are often used when the fruits are tropical, e.g., a "citrus grove" or a "banana plantation. Village and Lyons Avenue; McBean Parkway and Newhall Ranch ranch, large farm devoted chiefly to raising and breeding cattle, horses, sheep, and goats. The cattle ranch was introduced from Latin America to Texas and the plains of the W United States and Canada. Road; and McBean and Magic Mountain parkways. The Santa Clarita City Council approved the five-year contract this spring with Arizona-based Redflex Traffic Systems, which will be paid $640,000 per year to operate the system. Up to 20 intersections can be fitted with the cameras under the terms of the contract. The cameras capture images of the license plate, the driver's face and the vehicle crossing the intersection during a red light. The tickets are sent by mail to the drivers. Arnold, who has spent hours monitoring recordings of violations in the last month, expects the installation of additional cameras will not be difficult to justify. ``With the volume (of violations) coming through so far, there shouldn't be a problem putting more up,'' Arnold said. ``If it keeps up, we'll definitely be adding to the traffic department'' at the Santa Clarita sheriff's station. The cameras record traffic 24 hours a day, making it impossible for the sheriff's traffic department to view every car. Instead, a high-speed Internet See broadband. line set up at each camera beams the footage to Redflex in Tuscon, where the company determines which incidents are actual violations. ``They send the results back to us; then the tickets go out,'' Arnold said. ``The program reduces red-light collisions, but it also reduces speed in general. People start to realize they need to slow down before they get to the intersection. ``We're hoping to have a tremendous drop in the number of violations. Our goal is to decrease collisions and injuries, not increase (issuing) tickets.'' Amy Raisin Darvish, (661) 257-5254 amy.raisin(at)dailynews.com |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion