A clear majority of the Encinitas Mobility and Traffic Safety Commission sends red-light camera recommendation to the Encinitas city council.
Red-light cameras, once the scourge of Encinitas motorists, has been given the green light Monday night by the Mobility and Traffic Safety Commission. One commissioner abstained while five others voted in favor of recommending the new red-light-camera project to the Encinitas City Council.
Almost a year ago, 12-year-old Emery Chalekian was struck by a car and killed. The driver ran a red light. On Monday, Emery's mother spoke passionately in favor of the red light camera recommendation. “She did everything right: She followed the law, she trusted the system that was supposed to protect pedestrians, and that system failed her,” Bridget Chalekian said. Two years earlier, 15-year-old Brodee Braxton Champlain, who was riding his ebike, was killed in June after colliding with a van on El Camino Real. A friend read this statement from his mother to the commission: “They can encourage driver attentiveness, accountability and help reduce driver behaviors," Clare Champlain told the commissioners. For many Encinitas drivers, it was good riddance to the red-light cameras once here at the intersections of Leucadia Boulevard and El Camino Real and Encinitas Boulevard and El Camino Real. The city council ditched the program in May 2020 due to complaints about transparency, the company running it and large fines. Safe Streets Encinitas co-founder Laura Van Dusen said the proposed new red-light system would be different.“It addresses every single issue there was with the red-light camera program,“ Van Dusen said. Van Dusen and her group have been at every traffic safety and council meeting wearing yellow Emery T-shirts and fighting for a change in Encinitas traffic behavior. “It was a clear statement that the community is concerned, and we want to see action,” Van Dusen said. It seemed like the single voice in the gallery against the proposal came armed with California Crash Reporting System data from those intersections, both with and without the red-light cameras. Former Carlsbad Traffic Commissioner Steve Linke said that, once the red-light cameras were removed, collisions decreased 48%. Persons who were injured decreased 38%, and rear-end collisions decreased 69%. “I would encourage, maybe, alternative methods for improving safety then, that have a better chance of working in Encinitas,” Linke said.The commission’s recommendation now goes to city council. While the council often follows commission recommendations, members can adopt, change, reject or table them. Proponents say the new red-light-camera proposal would include fines starting at $100, the cameras would photograph license plates not drivers., and the data would not be shared with law enforcement.
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