PETER BUFFA -- Comments & Curiosities

Red light. Green light. Remember that? It was a game. The Costa Mesa

City Council is considering a real-life version, called “red-light

cameras” or “Photo Cop,” for short. The idea is to catch drivers who

think red lights are optional -- thus, “Photo Cop,” like the futuristic

robot cop in the movie “Robo Cop.” Get it? It’s like a joke. You’ve

probably heard something about red-light cameras by now. The great city

of Irvine, our earthbound neighbor to the south, has a pilot program in

place at a few intersections around town. Pretty simple. Take one large

intersection, add camera with flash, and voila -- “Photo Cop.” But this

is not just any camera. It’s a “smart camera.” Most of the time, the

camera is inert, unaware, virtually asleep, suspended from its pole high

above the intersection. You can shout at it, make faces at it, insult it

-- doesn’t matter. “I am a sentry at Buckingham Palace, a Swiss Guard at

the Vatican,” mutters the little camera, squeezing its lens shut. But

when the traffic light turns yellow, the camera springs to life, tenses

up and holds its breath, just waiting for the next set of wheels to enter

the intersection.

Most of the time, if the foot on the accelerator happens to be yours,

you won’t even know you’ve been caught red-handed, red-footed, whatever.

But just days later, you’ll get a citation in the mail, inviting you to

pay $271, or more. Worse yet, you’ll also get a nice picture along with

the citation -- actually, a number of pictures. One will show your

worried-looking face behind the wheel (no one has ever run a red light by

accident) along with inserts of your license plate, and the exact

position of your wheels at the instant the light turned red. If you’re

tempted to toss everything in the circular file, the citation carries

just as much weight as one of those old-fashioned, hand-written ticket

things. “Aha!” you say, with an air of self-satisfaction, “What if that’s

not me behind the wheel?” Please. Do you really believe they didn’t think

of that? You can return the citation with the name and address of whoever

was driving and it will be reissued in their name. That’ll test those

friendships pretty darn good, eh? If you claim you have no idea who that

person behind your wheel is -- no problem. You’re off the hook, as long

as you can produce a stolen-car report. Gulp.

As you’d expect, there have been a number of legal challenges to Photo

Cop systems. The same will happen here in the land of Newport-Mesa and,

yes, you can say you heard it here first. There are always a few

challenges based on technology, which are almost always filed by retired

engineers. Maybe working engineers don’t have the time. Who knows, but

they’re always retired. Since the beginning of the Bronze Age, speeders

have challenged the accuracy of radar systems. “The margin of error is 25

mph either way.” “A radar gun in Illinois showed a speed of 7 mph for an

oak tree,” blah, blah, blah. Judges usually yawn, thank the appellant,

and remind them that they can pay with cash, check or credit card. You

will hear the same arguments with Photo Cop. “Your Honor, the angle of

the camera, divided by the azimuth of the whatever, makes it virtually

impossible to know the exact position of my wheels at that instant.”

Interesting, thank you so much. Cash, check or credit card?

The other challenges, based on confidentiality and privacy, really are

interesting and taken much more seriously. The law says you shouldn’t

expect much privacy when you are in a public place. Let’s say you head

for the mall. The next morning, you’re reading a story about shopping

until dropping and, gasp, there you are. There you are in the picture

beside the story, radiant as ever, smack in the middle of a pod of mall

moles, gazing in a store window. So goes the world, the law says. If you

don’t want to be seen in public, stay out of public places. But Photo Cop

is a different story. This isn’t a camera aimed at a bunch of people,

including you. This camera is aimed exclusively at, well, you --

close-up, full frame, looking tense. To some people, that’s a little too

Orwellian for comfort. The latest court challenge was against San Diego,

which has been using red-light cameras for about three years. Just this

week, the court gave the city a clean bill of health and said, “Yeah,

this is different, kinda sorta, but this is an important public safety

issue, and let us remind you once again, dudes, that these are public

streets you’re riding on.” The actual ruling had a little more legalese

in it than that, but that was the gist of it.

Even though Photo Cop systems in other cities, like Irvine, were ready

to start snapping months ago, most have been marking time waiting for the

San Diego ruling. I am a frequent visitor to one of the photo-ready

intersections in Irvine, at Barranca and Alton parkways, and I must say,

it’s pretty effective. When one sees that big glass eye staring at one

from above the traffic light, one does think twice about trying to beat

the light. And that’s a good thing. Let’s be honest about this. All of us

push the envelope on red lights and stop signs now and then. But this

red-light thing has gotten out of hand in the last few years. If I’m the

first car in line when red eye turns green, I have programmed a

two-second delay into my right foot, and I don’t care who beeps at me. I

have seen too many blurs of glass and steel rocket through a red light

long after any sane driver would dare. In fact, let’s all work on that,

shall we, with or without Photo Cop. Couldn’t hurt. I gotta go.

* PETER BUFFA is a former Costa Mesa mayor. His column runs Sundays.

He may be reached via e-mail at o7 [email protected] .