Those running red lights at four Manteca intersections — if they keep up their pace of breaking the law — may make it possible to fund expansion of the Manteca Police traffic enforcement unit.

The department in May issued 488 red light running citations at just two intersections — Northgate Drive and Main Street as well as Daniels Street and Airport Way.

The other intersections at Louise Avenue and North Main as well as Commerce Drive and Yosemite are still in the 30 day grace period where violators receive warnings and not the $490 citation.

The Union Road and Yosemite Avenue interchange’s grace period ended earlier this month.

Overall, 527 citations have been issued since grace warning period ended for the first two intersections.

The May tickets translate into $239,120 in fines. The total since tickets started being issued in April is $258,230.

Assuming the numbers hold for the first two intersections, the city would end up issuing 5,856 citations costing violators a collective $2,896,440.

That is based on the ticket number ending up being constant each month and does not factor in the other three intersections.

Given the city only gets less than 20 percent of the ticket revenue with the rest going to the state — even with American Transit Systems being paid for installing and operating the red light cameras from Manteca’s share of the fine — it is likely the city will have a solid amount of revenue from the effort.

Mayor Gary Singh noted the council has already committed any funds the city nets to increase personnel in the police department’s traffic enforcement unit as well as to equip them.

That said, if the city doesn’t reach the benchmark needed to meet the annual cost of the red light cameras contract, American Traffic System will forgo the amount owed.

Under state law, red light camera contracts can’t cost the city anything.

How the red light

cameras work

Challenging the ticket is likely to be a futile exercise.

Unlike older red light camera systems, the American Traffic Solutions 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.

Typically, 70 percent of the potential red light violations the company cues up for more than 300 client law enforcement agencies results in tickets being authorized.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com