(November 23, 2004) -- LB accident data show that redlight accidents went up -- in one case by five times -- or stayed the same at three major LB intersections with redlight cameras in the year following their activation.

LBReport.com requested from LBPD, and LBPD provided to us, data related to a city staff report indicating a 35.3% reduction in total accidents at some intersections.

LBPD provided us with accident totals for each year from 1998 through 2002 plus the first seven weeks of 2003 at 7th/Redondo, Bellflower/Willow and Artesia/Cherry.

• At 7th/Redondo, where enforcement began on November 26, 2001, there was one redlight accident in 2001...and five in 2002. [There were 2 in 98, 2 in 99 and 3 in 2000].
• At Artesia/Cherry, where enforcement began on Feb. 26, 2002, there were no redlight accidents in 2001...and one in 2002. [There were 2 in 98, 2 in 99, 1 in 2000]
• At Bellflower/Willow, where enforcement began on December 10, 2001, ther were no redlight accidents in 2001 or 2002. [There were 15 in 98, 2 in 99 and 4 in 2000].

There were no reported redlight accidents at any of these intersections in the first three weeks of 2003 (the extent of data provided to us).

A LB city staff's memo accompanying its request for Council action renewing the red light camera system under a new flat fee contract with the vendor for 10 instead of 16 intersections, says "a four-year accident study, on the first 12 approaches that were part of the pilot program, revealed an overall reduction in accidents of 35.3 percent. This reduction is believed to be a result of the automated red light cameras and traffic engineering improvements provided at the intersections."

The LBPD document provided to LBReport.com indicates that figure was apparently derived by using the average of total accidents (redlight accidents are only a part of this) for all three intersections from 1998-2001, which was an average of 40.2 total accidents per year. LBPD then compared this to the 26 total accidents in 2002 at these three intersections...which produced the total reduction in accidents of 35.3%.

LBPD's document also indicates that with respect to rear end accidents (which we infer might be related to a driver slamming on his/her brakes to try and avoid a red light):

• At 7th/Redondo, there was 1 rear end accident in 2001...and none in 2002. (There was 1 in the first seven weeks of 2003; there were 6 in 98, 7 in 99, 2 in 2000)

• At Bellflower/Willow, there were 2 rear end accidents in 2001 and 2 in 2002. (There was 1 in the first seven weeks of 2003; there were 2 in 98, 1 in 99 and 7 in 2000).

• At Artesia/Cherry, there were 6 rear end accidents in 2001 and 2 in 2002. (There were none in the first seven weeks of 2003; 5 in 98 and 99 and 2 in 2000).