Manteca Police have issued 95 red light tickets in 20 days.

And that is with only five approaches at two intersections — Northgate Drive and North Main as well as Daniels Street and Airport Way — that have ended the state mandated 30-day warning period.

The grace period for the Union Road and Yosemite Avenue intersection ends on May 8.

The warning period for North Main and Louise Avenue is expected to start later this month.

Work is still underway on Commerce Drive and East Yosemite Avenue.

Police Chief Stephen Schluer has indicated — as have retired traffic enforcement unit officers — that Manteca has a high rate of red light runners.

Red light running is a contributing factor in roughly 20 percent of the 1,000 traffic collisions each year.

Given the most recent National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data, a non-injury intersection collision costs an average of $10,000.

That was five years ago before COVID-fueled inflation and the current tariff tiff.

Since running a red light is a crime, you can clearly make the argument the most preventable crime in terms of property loss, is red-light running.

Losses per incident in terms of residential burglaries are significantly lower.

The American Traffic Solutions cameras — that are now up and operating in Tracy, as well — meet the strict standards established by the State of California and the courts.

The cameras and radar operate 24/7. The evidence video is high resolution.

Speed is shown throughout the incident from approach to after the limit line — typically the front side of the crosswalk — is breached and then some.

On Friday, three different residents shared what were at least two red light runners on their crosstown trips.

None were at camera controlled intersections.

Manteca Police are continuing to enforce red light running when they come across it at one of the nearly 100 traffic signal controlled intersections in Manteca.

That said, enforcing red-light runners in a chase mode can pose safety issues to the public and officer more so than other moving violations.

Each ticket issued so far will cost the recipient $490.

All but $100 of that, will go to the county and state.

The city’s $100 share will go toward the annual cost of the ATS contract.

To give you an idea of how prevalent red light running is, once all intersections are “live” for a full year, based on the 95 tickets in 20 days for two intersections, Manteca could easily issue in excess of 5,000 tickets in a year’s time.

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 if 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.

The city’s agreement with American Traffic Solutions is cost neutral.

That means the city’s $100 share of a $490 red light running ticket will go into a specific account.

The city will be billed on a monthly basis by a set amount for each approach to an intersection that will have cameras installed.

The money collected from red light tickets will be moved into an account to cover contract expenditures.

If at the end of the year, the city doesn’t collect enough revenue to cover the accumulated per approach camera charges, the remaining debt is wiped out.

If the amount exceeds the cost, the funds are transferred into another city account to be spent on other law enforcement purposes.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com