San Bernardino Turns Off Its Red Light Cameras

Redlands and Loma Linda motorists making their way through San Bernardino no longer have to worry about red light cameras.

According to the San Bernardino Police Department, the Red Light Camera program has become a casualty of the city’s bankruptcy proceedings.

The exact date they were switched off was not immediately known. Police officials say it was likely no later than Dec. 14.

“Down the road, the company that owns (the cameras) will come out and remove them,” said San Bernardino Police Lt. Paul Williams.

Drivers are still expected to pay citations that were captured and processed while the cameras were operating, Williams said.

Loma Lindans had been affected on a more regular basis by a camera placed on Hospitality Lane and Waterman Avenue. That camera was removed long before this recent development, police officials said. The contract was allowed to expire on that, officials said.

According to the Press-Enterprise, San Bernardino city officials expressed interest in terminating the red light camera program in 2011, but would have had to pay $1 million to get out of its contract with American Traffic Systems.

In September, the council decided to continue the program by eliminating some intersections, adding new ones and upgrading the technology at other intersections, the newspaper reported.

The deal was expected to expire on July 2014, the paper reported.

Loma Linda ended their red light camera program in December of 2010 after councilmembers there said the program was not helping keep motorists safe and was beginning to cost the city money it could not afford to spend.

In October 2009, ABC Channel 7 News reported the high cost of maintaining the system prompted Redlands Police officials to pull the plug on a red light camera that had been at the intersection of University Street and Citrus Avenue since May 2008.