Redding Shows Double-digit Rise In Traffic Red Light Camera Violations

If it seems like you’re spotting more red-light cameras holding silent sentry over busy Redding intersections, you’re right.

The white, shipping-box sized cameras meant to deter driving scofflaws have been mounted on more traffic light poles around the city.

And the number of violations issued to motorists by those electronic traffic monitoring devices are on the rise.

As of earlier this month, the number of red-light runners captured by the cameras are up 30% compared to the entire year of 2024, police department statistics show. That’s the highest year-over-year rise in the past five years.

According to the city, its photo red light enforcement program uses sensors and cameras to detect vehicles that enter intersections while the light is red. The cameras record, among other things, photos and video of the vehicle, its license plate, images of the driver and how long the light had been red.

One of the busy red light cameras at the intersection of East Cypress Avenue and Hilltop Drive in Redding.

Redding Police Chief Brian Barner said that in 2020, the number of red-light camera-captured infractions dipped to 5,020, a COVID-caused decline as fewer people drove.

As of early December, with a few more weeks in 2024 still to go, the number of infractions stood at 8,345. That’s up from 6,682 in all of 2023.

Barner said this year’s increase is due to monitoring cameras being installed at two new intersections, at East Cypress Avenue and Churn Creek Road and on Churn Creek Road at Hartnell Avenue.

The cameras in place in Redding are currently activated at a total of seven intersections, which are chosen “due to a high red light violation rate and traffic collision rate,” Barner said via email. “These major intersections are also very busy — and difficult to enforce safely in a police car and/or motorcycle,” he added.

“We have seen decreases in collisions since installing the cameras — especially our major injury, side-impact collisions that occur during red-light collisions.”

Red-light cameras are detering drivers from running stoplights and are having “a halo effect throughout the city at our other intersections” where cameras are actively monitoring, Barner said.

But at intersections where the photo cameras have been in place for a while, he said: “We expected a reduction, but that has not happened.”

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No more red-light cameras are scheduled to be installed in 2025, Barner said, since “our current contract would need to be amended and we do not plan to do that.”

More: Which two Redding intersections are getting red-light traffic cameras?

Camera locations can change depending on what the data finds.

In 2018, Redding police deactivated the red-light camera at East Cypress Avenue and Churn Creek Road, a move that for a while was followed by fewer red-light runners and traffic collisions. When the numbers rose again, city officials reactivated those cameras in early 2024.

Police said the East Cypress Avenue-Churn Creek Road and Hartnell Avenue-Churn Creek Road intersections have averaged about 10 traffic collisions per month. A man had died in a collision near the Hartnell-Churn Creek intersection in November 2023.

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Meanwhile, police said red-light cameras were deactivated earlier in 2024 at the intersection of North Market Street and Lake Boulevard.

Here’s where red-light cameras are currently in operation, according to Redding police:

East Cypress Avenue at Bechelli Lane
East Cypress Avenue at Hilltop Drive
Market Street at Shasta Street
North Market Street at Lake Boulevard
Pine Street at Tehama Street
East Cypress Avenue at Churn Creek Road
Hartnell Avenue at Churn Creek Road

Related: More red-light cameras in Redding? Ask the Record Searchlight

Michele Chandler covers dining, food, public safety and whatever else comes up for the Redding Record Searchlight/USA Today Network. Accepts story tips at 530-338-7753 and at mrchandler@gannett.com. Please support our entire newsroom’s commitment to public service journalism by subscribing today.

This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Redding traffic red light camera violations on the rise

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