Sometime in early 2026 Manteca Police will issue their 10,000th red light running ticket.
And they are likely to have done so in less than a year.
Red light running, for a quick refresher course, is responsible for roughly 20 percent of the 1,000 plus traffic collisions in Manteca,
And traffic mishaps are the No. 1 thing financial losses for Manteca residents from illegal activity.
Sorry, but that is exactly what it is.
It is an illegal activity that can kill, maim, cost victims thousands of dollars, increase insurance premiums, and generally can be referenced without too much hyperbole in more than a few cases as “home grown terrorism.”
Few are the drivers during the course of a month on the streets of Manteca who doesn’t experience a heart-stopping moment from the antics of the lawless behind the wheel.
That runs the gamut from intentionally accelerating way above the speed limit to run a red light, aggressive speeding, weaving while multi-tasking by typing on a small hand held screen, bonehead driving maneuvers, and treating stop signs as if they are invisible.
That cues up an attaboy to Councilman Mike Morowit.
He was the one who — in the spirit of transparency or more like hitting people over the head — successfully pushed for the signs the city posted at intersections with red light cameras that stage the fine for such a misstep is $490.
They were places where the traffic light signal arm attaches to a pole above another traffic signal.
You can’t miss it, especially when you are stopped at the intersection.
The number of people who say they don’t see the state-mandated signs at the intersection approach that warn there are red light cameras ahead is significant.
It underscores how a lot of us drive in zombie mode like the self-driving Waymo taxi that ignored the no U-turn signs in San Mateo last week.
That said, did anyone really believe Manteca would actually issue 5,108 red light tickets in six months as of the end of September?
Former Manteca Mayor Ben Cantu nailed it when he repeatedly expressed his frustrations with what goes on day in and day out on Manteca’s streets as the “wild, wild west.”
It’s not that the Manteca Police aren’t doing their job.
You could take all 80 officers and have them saddle up on motorcycles when they aren’t handling other calls and you’d come nowhere near nabbing 5,108 red light runners in six months.
The city is doing what most of us have been demanding for years: Take back Manteca’s streets from lawless drivers.
Keep in mind those 5,108 red light tickets are from only five out of almost 100 signalized intersections that have the high tech cameras and radar.
Perhaps the city can celebrate the 10,000th red ticket by channeling Publishers Clearing House.
They could write out a big poster board citation, secure a free driving school course, and perhaps give little trinkets of appreciation from other motorists and knock on their door and livestream it on the City of Manteca’s Facebook page.
Celebrate, you ask? Why?
The fact chronic red light runners are piling up tickets doing the driving stunt that has a big impact on rising premiums means enough moving violations points will trigger the DMV telling insurance carriers just how reckless of a driver they are.
The more insurance companies can penalize established bad driving behavior to specific drivers it will ease the size of rising insurance premiums on everyone else.
Then there is the general feeling that they should pay for the wild driving conditions they create on city streets.
No, no, not another
gas station please
Everyone seems to moan and groan when it seems another month or two does not go by without someone proposing to build a new gas station/convenience store combo in Manteca.
Given Manteca is in the heart of South San Joaquin County, the fastest growing supercomputer region in the land based on driving at least 90 minutes one way either to or from work, it shouldn’t surprise anyone.
Especially when Manteca is on both the 120 Bypass and Highway 99 corridors as well as Manteca having gone more than 12 years as it grew without adding a gas station and two removed for retail projects on North Main and one to make way for the currents ramps in 2011 for the Lathrop Road replacement interchange on Highway 99.
The eight being pursued by operators independent of the oil companies whose gas they want to sell, are the first phase of neighborhood retail projects.
A gas station starts generating revenue to pay off construction loans the day it is finished.
The additional retail space for the mom and pop restaurants and other concerns that people clamor for are much harder to secure tenants.
Building even a small retail center of 8,000 square feet with six suites can be extremely dicey financially. Such a project would need to have at least four of the suites with a tenant just to cover the mortgage. Securing and building a gas station first makes retail viable.
Gas stations are today’s financial linchpins that make small neighborhood style pencil out and help launch large neighborhood commercial centers such as the two proposed straddling Airport Way just south of Louise Avenue.
Maybe Manteca should give
Wilmer Valderrama call . . .
Does the name Wilmer Valderrama ring a bell?
He’s the actor who, in his younger days, played Fez on “That 70’a Show.”
FEZ, of course, in Manteca vernacular these days is shorthand for the envisioned 150 acre Family Entertainment Zone bookended by Great Wolf Indoor Waterpark Resort and the Big League Dreams sports complex.
Fez was an exchange student in the fictional town of Point Place in Wisconsin.
Wisconsin, and more specifically the Wisconsin Dells, is the waterpark capital of the world.
The Dells has five major water parks including four with significantly more attractions than Manteca’s Great Wolf.
Valderrama has a long list of movie and TV credits including NCIS.
He also has business holdings and investments .
Obviously, he’d be a bit pricey of a spokesperson to promote the FEZ.
Who knows? Maybe he’s be interested in opening “The Fez,” 1970s themed disco/family enter time venture and restaurant . . .
This column is the opinion of editor, Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinions of The Bulletin or 209 Multimedia. He can be reached at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
