The plan to potentially install red light cameras at strategic intersections throughout Lathrop has been shelved for now.

Last month Lathrop City Manager Steve Salvatore requested that the action item that was on the council’s agenda be pulled from consideration for the time being because the city still has some additional information that it needs to work out before the matter is brought before the council.

“We’re not prepared to talk about that one – we don’t have all of the information we need to talk about that item,” Salvatore told Vice Mayor Paul Akinjo – who was stepping in for an absent Mayor Sonny Dhaliwal to run the meeting. “I would prefer to pull it.”

No timetable for when the matter could be back before the council was announced at the time that it was removed from the agenda.

Tracy, Stockton, and Modesto all use red light cameras as deterrents for red light runners. While questions are routinely raised by people about the legality and constitutionality of red light camera enforcement, the California Vehicle Code explicitly states that at limit lines and intersections can use automated traffic enforcement systems.

According to the staff report prepared for the council, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has found that intersections that have automated traffic enforcement cameras reduced the number of red light violations by 40 percent, and the fatal collision rate in red light accidents fell by almost 25 percent.

If the council were to follow the recommendation of staff for where the cameras would be placed in the community, according to the staff report, they would be placed at River Islands Parkway and Somerston Parkway, Louise Avenue and Harlan Road, and Lathrop Road and Harlan Road.

Because of the way that the law regarded automated enforcement is currently laid out, the decision of the council to move forward with staff’s recommendation would mean that the city would have to submit a request for proposal from authorized vendors who would install, maintain, and operate the system.

If a violation were to occur, according to the description of the process included in the packet that was handed out to the council prior to last month’s meeting, a summary of the fact would be forwarded to the Lathrop Police Department for approval, and once approved the contractor would send a notice of violation that would be paid directly to the San Joaquin County Superior Court.

A portion of the funds generated by the automated system would be routed to the City of Lathrop, which would then use those funds to pay up to the monthly fee to the contractor – putting the onus of covering the ongoing costs to the system on the violators rather than the community. Any additional funding that is received beyond the monthly fee, according to the staff report, would be available to be used at the city’s discretion.

To contact Bulletin reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.