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Short yellow light blamed for tickets in Ventura

By John Scheibe
Tuesday, June 23, 2009

The Ventura County Grand Jury is recommending that the city of Ventura lengthen the duration of a yellow light at a busy downtown intersection to decrease the number of red-light-camera violations and make the area safer.
The yellow light at California Street and Thompson Boulevard lasts for three seconds before turning red, compared with four seconds at nearby intersections, the Grand Jury says in a report released Monday on the use of automated cameras in Ventura and Oxnard to catch motorists who run red lights.
“This intersection was found to have a 25 percent shorter yellow light interval compared with surrounding intersections,” the report states.
Not surprisingly, that same intersection accounted for more than 38 percent of all the red-light-camera tickets issued in Ventura between Dec. 1, 2008, and Feb. 28 of this year, even though there are 17 other intersections with the cameras.
The California-Thompson camera generated 825 tickets during the period, out of only 2,148 citywide, the Grand Jury found. The average for the 17 other intersections was only 78 tickets.
The Mills Road and Main Street intersection had six times the traffic volume as California and Thompson yet generated only 49 camera tickets during the same period.
The Grand Jury report generally praises the cameras as effective in reducing traffic violations and improving safety, with the exception of the California-Thompson camera. It recommends the city increase the duration of the yellow light there.
But doing so would cause even more traffic congestion, said Tom Mericle, transportation manager for the city of Ventura.
Lengthening the yellow light would decrease the duration of the green light, reducing the number of vehicles that can go through the busy intersection during each light cycle.
Mericle said the city is looking at other alternatives, including adding another offramp from Highway 101 to downtown.
The city installed a red-light camera at California-Thompson based in part on the number of accidents and red-light runners there, he said. Collisions at intersections can be deadly because vehicles often crash into each other at right angles.
The city reported 132 collisions at all intersections in 2000, compared with only 40 in 2007.
The camera photos must be reviewed and approved by the city before a ticket is issued. The fine for a red-light violation can total $435 or more.
The city of Ventura has 60 days to respond to the Grand Jury’s report.
To read the full report, visit http://grandjury.countyofventura.org.



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