Manteca Police issued 596 red light citations in a three week period ending July 23.

July is the first month when none of the five intersections that have the red light cameras were in the 30-day grace period where motorists that ran red lights received warnings.

If the monthly pace holds, the department will issue 10,330 red light tickets in a 12-month period.

That means those that ignore red lights could end up being fined a collective $5,061,700 in a year’s time based on a $490 ticket.

The city receives less than 20 percent of the $490 ticket.

The bulk goes to the state and the court system.

Should 10,330 tickets actually be collected, Manteca would receive around $1 million.

There would need to be 8,736 tickets issued in a year’s time for American Traffic Systems — the firm the city hired to install the red light cameras — to earn the full contractual amount of $873,600.

What doesn’t go to ATS is being set side in an account to help expand the traffic enforcement unit.

If enough tickets aren’t issued to pay ATS, the balance is forgiven. California law requires that red light camera systems do not cost local jurisdictions anything.

The goal of the city is not to make money.

It is to hammer home to motorists that red light running is illegal.

Red light running accounted for roughly 20 percent of the roughly 1,000 traffic collisions Manteca had in 2023.

Besides people being injured, the National Insurance Institute indicates intersection collisions on the lower end are roughly a $7,000 financial hit on drivers involved and their insurance companies.

The intersections with red light cameras are:

*Daniels Street at Airport Way.

*Northgate Drive at North Main Street.

*Yosemite Avenue at Union Road..

*Main Street at Louise Avenue.

*Yosemite Avenue at Commerce Drive-Northwoods Avenue.

The protocols that trigger system responses that could lead to a possible ticket aren’t put in motion unless the vehicle is moving faster than 10 mph.

That is because unlike previous red light camera systems, the ATS uses radar and the latest high resolution cameras technology.

Twelve seconds prior to the light turning red, the system starts recording traffic as it approaches the intersection.

Still frames are captured if any part of a vehicle intrudes past the limit line — typically the marking of the crosswalk closest to the approaching car — when the light turns red.

Those still frames include ones that zero in in the driver as well as the license plate.

At the same time, the video is “stamped” with the speed the radar reads as the vehicle runs the red light.

The recording continues as the vehicle continues through the intersection.

All of that information is packaged together and forwarded to the Manteca Police Department.

At the police department, a traffic unit officer will look at the information.

They will check the photo of the driver from the camera system against the photo of the driver’s license of the registered owner whose information is on file with the DMV.

 Once everything meets the standard required to make sure it would pass muster with a judicial review, the officer OKs the company to go ahead and mail a citation with the photographic evidence and accompanying data such as speed, location, and time to the driver.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com