I read a sincere letter in the Enterprise Record last week, a person who had been permanently injured by a red light runner. The writer opined that a red light camera would have prevented the accident. I don’t agree – the statistics don’t support that claim. I don’t believe the city of Chico believes that either, I think they just want the money from the tickets these cameras will generate. These cameras are a sure thing. Despite flaws, such as ticketing drivers for crawling ahead to look for oncoming traffic, they are very difficult to dispute.
Same with the Downtown parking kiosks – these aren’t making anybody’s life easier, but they will probably pay for themselves very quickly. I looked at budget reports dating back to 2018, pre-COVID, and I saw figures indicating, in past, the city made more in parking FINES than meter proceeds. That was with human meter-readers, who obviously can’t be everywhere. These new meters issue a ticket immediately, as soon as your time is up. And one man reported that he was issued a ticket even after he’d re-upped his time using the app. The ironic note there – he had gone Downtown to attend a city meeting. I wish him good luck in disputing that, even though he reportedly had a receipt.
Ever wonder – why do we have to pay to park Downtown? Just Downtown? Those are public streets, like streets all over town. We park for free in any other part of town, commercial or residential – what gives the city of Chico the right to charge us to park Downtown?
And here’s something that we should all wonder about – they are collecting private information. At one meeting, former city manager Mark Orme reported that this app would allow the user to be tracked via their cell phone – “we’ll know how far they had to walk to spend money…” As well as where they shopped/dined/drank, how much they spent, on what? For marketing purposes – will it be sold? How safe is our private information? Public agencies are not immune to cyber security breaches.
Here’s my petty gripe – my phone is constantly notifying me that I need to dump apps, that they interfere with the function of my phone. I frankly don’t feel like adding another app. Like my husband asks, how much time does this add to a quick run into Tin Roof for a loaf of bread?
I think these measures are just for the revenues, and the kiosks are just another bullet in the foot for the city of Chico. So I wrote a letter about it.
Can red light cameras stop accidents? The evidence indicates otherwise. Sacramento, for example, has had red light cameras for years but reports, “Over 4000 collisions occur on the streets of Sacramento annually… more than 50 percent occur at traffic signals. Half of those collisions result in injuries.” The CDC reported an “overall” increase in accidents due to rear-end and side-swipe collisions at intersections.
I believe the cameras will be a very effective revenue mechanism for the city of Chico. It’s an instant ticket, with an admitted margin for error, and the burden of proof is on the driver, who typically has no camera.
Likewise for the parking kiosks, which are faster than a parking attendant but also have an admitted margin for error. They will make a great revenue source. Look at budget reports – before COVID, the city showed more revenues from parking tickets than parking meters. Just watch how fast these meters rack up the fines.
Red light cameras will not stop car accidents. The kiosks frustrate daytime shoppers while nighttime restaurant and bar patrons park for free. Neither measure makes sense, but both are sure to make plenty of money to pay for the skating rink and other boondoggles.
Juanita “I’ll be looking both ways and shopping online” Sumner, Chico CA
Chico Taxpayers Association 