Los Angeles' Red-Light Cameras Show Mixed Results

No city is a finer example of the highly mixed results produced by traffic cameras than Los Angeles. In the City of Angels, the cameras’ usefulness varies depending on which neighborhood you're in.

Culver City, for example, has generated nearly $2 million in photo ticket fines in the past eight months alone, which practically makes the cameras the government’s version of an ATM. Yet travel across Los Angeles County to Paramount and you'll find the city shut down its red-light cameras in 2006 after running up a deficit of $178,000.

Although the purported goal of traffic cameras is safety, that rationale has been disputed by several studies. While other cities across the country have gotten in hot water for rigging their yellow lights for shorter intervals, the money-making ability of red-light cameras depends largely on traffic patterns and citation and collection rates.

It may be that the only way the cameras can really pay for themselves is if they collect a large number of fines. Therefore, if the municipality doesn't want to lose money on the investment, it has to crank up the number of citations, even if doing so has little benefit for safety.

Red Light Camera Roulette: L.A. is Money Loser, Culver City Rakes It In (Los Angeles Times)