automated red light enforcement – Getting Around Sacramento

Note: I decided I would map the proposed Automated Red Light Camera and SB 535 areas, and the map is at bottom. Note that SB 535 is not the only criteria for identifying disadvantaged communities, but it is the one most commonly used.

Item 03 on the SacATC agenda for 2026-08-20 is ‘Automated Red Light Camera Program’ (staff report | presentation). This is a new program being established under Senate Bill 720 2025 (SB 720, Ashby. Automated traffic enforcement system programs.). Though this bill did not eliminate earlier programs, the City of Sacramento does not currently have a program because they participated in a county-wide program which the county cancelled. The new program addresses many of the objections that had been raised to the older program.

I support this program, and these locations.

The staff report contains the map below.

*map of Automated Red Light Camera Program, from SacATC 2026-08-20*

I like the distribution of locations, though would hope for more locations. Maybe in time. The locations demonstrate two things: the equity concerns about concentrating red light cameras, and any type of enforcement, in low-income neighborhoods, does not seem to be a significant issue. Most of the locations are in moderate to high income neighborhoods. This fits with my observations that most red light running is by drivers of high-value motor vehicles, not low-income people. It would be interesting to map the intersections against disadvantaged communities, and probably the city did so, but I don’t have time for that, and the city did not provide it. (see below)

To some degree, I’m not sure how important the distribution of red light camera is. I strongly believe that the majority of red light running is by a minority, but a significant minority, of drivers. Many of these drivers run red lights all over the city. It is also contagious behavior. Yes, it is an epidemic, and the disease spreads though observation of other drivers behavior. It is a visual contagion. Though the enforcement mechanism here is civil and not criminal, it would allow Public Works to identify repeated and egregious red light runners, and pass that information along to law enforcement.

I was curious about how these 20 recommended intersection locations overlapped with the Vision Zero Action Plan Update. The Red Light Camera list is in order of broadside crashes, which are almost always caused by red light running. However, the ordered list in the staff report does not match the ordered list on the map. I don’t know which is correct. The Top 20 intersections in the VZ Action Plan Update are numbered, but not in ranked order. There is an overlap of eight intersections. I also bold-faced the roadways that show up more than once in the list. There is a pattern here – these are the arterial roadways that the city designed to encourage unsafe speeds and unsafe driver behavior. No surprise that these are the locations of red light running crashes.

Rank	Red Light Camera intersections	Vision Zero Top 20 intersections
1	5th Street & I Street	no
2	Truxel Road & Arena Boulevard	yes
3	Del Paso Boulevard & Evergreen Street/Lampasas Avenue	yes
4	65th Street & Lemon Hill Avenue	no
5	Freeport Boulevard & Florin Road	no
6	Folsom Boulevard & Howe Avenue/Power Inn Road	no
7	Truxel Road & Gateway Park Boulevard	yes
8	Stockton & Elder Creek Road/47th Avenue	no
9	Fruitridge Road & Power Inn Road	no
10	65th Street & Fruitridge Road	no
11	Mack Road & Valley Hi Drive/La Mancha Way	yes (as La Mancha Way & Mack Rd)
12	El Camino Avenue & Northgate Boulevard	yes (as Northgate Blvd & W El Camino Ave)
13	16th Street & J Street	yes
14	12th Street & North 16th Street	yes (as North 12th St & Richards Blvd, and North 16th St & Richards Blvd)
15	3rd Street & Capitol Mall	no
16	El Camino Avenue & Evergreen Street	no
17	Florin Road & Greenhaven Drive	no
18	Franklin Boulevard & Brookfield Drive	no
19	Cosumnes River Boulevard & Bruceville Road	yes (as Bruceville Rd & Cosumnes River Blvd)
20	Truxel Road & Del Paso Road/Natomas Boulevard	no

Map of proposed Automated Red Light Camera locations, and SB 535 disadvantaged communities.

Of the 20 locations, seven are not in SB 535 areas, four at at the edge of SB 535 areas, and nine are within SB 535 areas. I would not say that the cameras are concentrated in low-income communities, however, many equity organizations have raised concerns about camera locations. My observations of red light running are that most violations are by drivers of high-value vehicles, not low-income drivers. The seven not-in-SB 535 locations are moderate to high-income communities. The three downtown Sacramento locations are not generally low-income, though the SB 535 criteria identifies them as such. SB 535 uses a variety of measures in addition to income.

For earlier posts on red light running, see Category: traffic violence, Tag: red light camera, and Tag: red light running.

The City of Sacramento has 11 red light camera locations: Red Light Running Program. Of these, some are at high-injury intersections, but most are not. These locations are cross-referenced with high injury intersections shown in the post Sac Vision Zero new intersections map.

Location	Top all	Top ped	Top bike
Mack Rd & La Mancha Way/Valley Hi Dr	no	no	no
El Camino Ave & Evergreen St	no	no	no
Howe Ave & Fair Oaks Blvd	no	no	no
Mack Rd & Center Parkway	no	no	no
Exposition Blvd & Ethan Way	no	no	no
Broadway & 21st St	no	no	no
Folsom Blvd & Howe Ave/Power Inn Rd	no	no	no
Arden Way & Challenge Way	no	no	no
5th St & I St	no	no	no
16th St & W St	no	no	no
Alhambra Blvd & J St	no	no	no

My first thought is that the city was putting these cameras in the wrong location. But then I thought, what if the presence of red light cameras is making these locations safer and therefore dropping them out of the highest injury intersection list. I don’t have the information to answer that question, which would take analysis of crashes at the intersections, and before/after data.

What I do know is that many more red light cameras are needed to counteract the pandemic of red light running: pandemic of red light running. I spend time around the edges of Fremont Park, close to where I live, which includes the intersection of arterial streets P, Q, 15th, and 16th, and one of the things I do is watch traffic in the intersections. It has now become rare for a signal cycle for 16th St northbound at P St to not see an incidence of red light running. The other intersections are not quite as bad, but the pattern is there. And this is happening everywhere in Sacramento that I go; these are not likely to even be the worst intersections.

I believe that most of the red light running is by egregious violators, people who routinely and continuously violate traffic law for their own convenience or thrill seeking. This is true of most traffic violations, but red light running is the one most likely to result in fatality and serious injury, for people in all modes of travel. So having a more widespread set of red light cameras would serve to catch these red light violators. Of course the follow-up is necessary, to revoke the licenses and confiscate the vehicles of these repeat offenders. The longer the city looks the other way on this issue, the more people will come to see it as normal behavior, and the less safe our streets will be.

The standard response by cars-first entitled drivers is that tickets are just a money-making scheme by the government. The purpose of red light cameras is to make streets safer, and if that results in some income, so be it. I’m more than happy to have these sociopathic drivers hit in the pocketbook, and the money can be used to make our streets safer, such as by installing more red light cameras. Red light tickets, with photos, are part of the documentation needed to revoke licenses and confiscate vehicles.

Getting Around Sacramento

by foot, bicycle, and public transit (car-free!)

Tag: automated red light enforcement

SacATC 2026-08-20: red light camera program

red light cameras