MURRIETA: Red light camera ban petition submitted

A petition with more than 6,000 signatures calling for a ballot initiative to ban red light cameras in Murrieta has been submitted.

Murrieta resident Diana Serafin has spent the past six months collecting signatures in an effort to scrap the city's 5-year-old traffic camera program. If the petition she turned in Tuesday is successful, voters will decide in November 2012.

The petition needs 4,470 valid signatures, 10 percent of the city's registered voters. Serafin submitted 6,352, though after combing through the documents she discovered about a quarter of them are probably invalid, either from people who aren't registered to vote in Murrieta or duplicates, she said.

Serafin believes she has 4,823 good signatures, just enough to force a vote. The petitions have been sent to the Riverside County registrar of voters, which has 30 business days to inspect them.

"I'm feeling really good, I really am," Serafin said. "I think we're going to make it."

Even before the names are reviewed, Serafin's drive has been successful in temporarily blocking cameras from being installed at two intersections.

In January, the City Council renewed its contract with Arizona-based American Traffic Systems and decided to add cameras to Murrieta Hot Springs Road, at offramps from interstates 215 and 15.

Those cameras have been put on hold while the petition moves forward, said police Cpl. Jay Froboese, who runs Murrieta's red light camera program.

That means it could be more than a year before cameras are patrolling the intersections. But if the registrar decides Serafin doesn't have enough valid signatures, they could be installed as early as next month, Froboese said.

Traffic cameras monitor intersections for cars that drive through red lights, using sensors to detect vehicles and taking a few seconds of video of the vehicle and its license plate. The video is reviewed by a police officer, who decides whether to issue a ticket.

Fines for violations can cost more than $400.

Proponents of the cameras say they cut down on serious crashes that can occur when a driver runs a red light. Murrieta police said they saw drop-offs in head-on and broadside collisions, though rear-end crashes ticked up.

Camera opponents decry them as a money-making venture for cities that violate drivers' basic freedoms and offer no real increases in safety. Murrieta has tried to deflect that critique by pledging to donate any proceeds from the tickets, after American Traffic Systems takes its cut, to charity.

Murrieta would not be the first city to ban the cameras through voter initiative. Last year, Anaheim residents voted overwhelmingly to bar the devices.

Last month, American Traffic Systems sued to keep an anti-camera initiative off the ballot in Bellingham, Wash., according to the Bellingham Herald.

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