Cameras will help save lives

You’re in your car, cruising along, happy as a clam.

Just as you come to an intersection, the light turns yellow. What?

Yes, I know. You’re not really in your car and there isn’t really an

intersection. It’s just pretend.

Can you work with me on this please? Thank you so much.

Anyway, just as you come to an intersection, the green light turns

yellow. What to do, what to do -- the gas or the brake, the brake or

the gas?

It’s a decision most of us face every day, two or three times

maybe. Most of us, thankfully, make the right call. We have the

judgment and the skills to know what to do and when to do it without

stomping on the gas or standing on the brakes.

At least, that used to be the case. These days, I am absolutely

dumbstruck (which is rare) at how many drivers, and I use the term

loosely, are running red lights one second, two seconds or more after

a solid “red.”

And it’s not like they’re embarrassed about it, I might add.

Not long ago, I watched a driver shoot through an intersection,

which shall remain unnamed, more than a second after the cross

traffic had started through. Amazingly, despite the panic stops and

blaring horns, it was the psycho-driver from hell who gave everyone

the international “we’re No. 1” sign. It’s gotten to the point that

if I’m first in line at a red light, I will automatically wait a

second or two after the green before I venture into the intersection

-- and I don’t care who’s beeping behind me.

Getting a green light use to mean something. These days, it’s

about as valuable as having France as an ally.

But even as I write, and you read, the city of Costa Mesa is doing

something about it.

Next month, the intersection of Harbor and Adams will have a shiny

new “red-light camera” on the job, 24/7, no snoozing, no coffee

breaks, not even a potty break. I’m sure you’ve heard about these

things by now -- remote cameras at intersections that snap a digital

photo of you or whoever is driving your car, if you try to run a red

light.

Your license plate will show up as clear as day, even at night,

which means you have, in the words of Aretha Franklin, nowhere to run

and nowhere to hide.

The first red-light cameras popped up about 8 years ago, and are

now snapping away around the country and all over the world. There

was a lot of hubbub about “Big Brother” at first, but most of that

calmed down as people realized that no one really cares about the

face behind the wheel. It’s the front bumper they’re after.

To oversimplify, the cameras couldn’t care less about the

green-light phase. The only thing they live for is this: what is the

elapsed time between when the light turned red and the point a car

entered the intersection after that? Just like the nontech world, no

one cares about cars that entered the box just before the red light,

or even a tiny fraction of a second after.

It’s the people who clearly and deliberately sailed through, well

past the point where they could have made a safe stop who need to

smile and make sure their hair is in place. Live human beings follow

up, trace the license plate, and a violation notice goes out.

Is that Big Brother?

There was a time when I would have said yes. But with what I’ve

seen recently at intersections across the Newport-Mesa land, I now

say ... pish tosh. No one really knows what pish-tosh means, but it

isn’t good. Bottom line, the number of nimrods deliberately running

red lights is large and growing larger, and something has got to be

done, I tell you.

A recent test at Harbor and Adams recorded 259 red-light

violations ... in 18 hours. Unless my calculator fails me, that comes

to about fourteen red-light pirates an hour who are perfectly willing

to risk ramming their car through the door of your car and out the

other side, to save 90 seconds at a traffic light.

Another frequent concern is that these systems are strictly

intended to raise dough for the city. Not so in this case, because

the City Council had a clever idea, and a darn good one, I might add.

Any money generated by red-light cameras in Costa Mesa will be routed

to drivers ed programs at local schools.

According to Costa Mesa Police Lt. Karl Schuler -- who is one of

the most decorated officers in the country for nabbing DUI violators,

by the way -- “This is not about money. It’s about preventing traffic

accidents caused by drivers running red lights.” Sounds good to me.

I try to stay away from scary statistics, but guess how many

red-light crashes were recorded in the U.S. between January 2001 and

January 2003. Go ahead.

Take a guess. I’ll wait. That’s long enough.

According to the Phoenix-based “Red Means Stop Coalition,”

approximately 3,677,909. That’s a lot.

Do red-light cameras save lives? Without a doubt. In fact, they

have been so effective in cooling the jets of bad drivers that some

cities have installed “faux” cameras at some intersections as a

deterrent with great success.

If you’re still not comfortable with red-light cameras, here’s a

thought. Drive safely. I know...it’s crazy. But it just might work. I

gotta go.

* PETER BUFFA is a former Costa Mesa mayor. His column runs

Sundays. He may be reached by e-mail at [email protected].