POWAY — Two
months ago the Poway City Council voted to stop its red-light camera enforcement
program by covering up cameras at three of the cities busiest intersections.
The idea was to see if the cameras —
despised by many who think they are too sensitive and an invasion of privacy, as
pictures are taken of drivers — are really needed. Later this summer the council
will see if accidents have increased and make a final decision whether to
uncover the cameras or eliminate them for good.
But now the Sheriff’s Department has
installed low-tech devices on cameras at two of those intersections, as well as
at a third, designed to catch red-light violators.
Known in the industry as “rat boxes” the
small devices are attached to the top, bottom, or back of traffic signals. When
the light turns red, a small blue light behind the signal illuminates. A deputy
stationed behind the signal and who can see the line where vehicles are supposed
to stop can tell if someone has entered the intersection on a red light and then
chase them down and issue a ticket.
The rat boxes are not cameras and require a
deputy to be in the area.
Tuesday afternoon the department issued a
news release about the rat boxes inviting the media to a demonstration to be
held May 29.
One of the reasons why the council
suspended the red-light camera program was because statistics showed that while
broadside accidents decreased at monitored intersections, rear-end accidents
increased as drivers, worried about getting a ticket, would slam on their
brakes.
“When I first read about it, I thought it
was the son of red light camera,” Councilman Steve Vaus said of the rat boxes.
“But when I looked into it, in very simple terms, it’s just adding an extra
light bulb to our existing red lights. An officer will know when the light
changes. There are no sensors, no Big Brother. It’s just a simple use of
electricity. I don’t see it as an issue.”-
Mayor Don Higginson, whose idea it was to
suspend the camera program, said comparison of the two enforcement tools is like
comparing apples to oranges.
He said all the rat boxes do is eliminate
subjectivity on the part of a deputy who sometimes has to guess whether the car
entered an intersection before the signal turned red. “These are just another
inexpensive (each rat box costs about $100) tool to help them in the enforcement
of moving violations,” Higginson said,
City Manager Penny Riley said the
installation of the rat boxes did not need council approval but all the members
were sent a memo and a power point presentation explaining their use.
Why the devices are called rat boxes is
unclear. According to the power point presentation prepared by deputies in
Santee, where the devices are also are used, the name may derive from the fact
that they look a little like rats with a “nose” and a “tail,” or maybe the name
comes from the fact that they “rat out” a violator.
The rat boxes are now in use at the
intersections of Poway Road and Pomerado Road, Poway Road and Community Road,
and Scripps Poway Parkway and Pomerado Road.
Poway Sheriff’s Sgt. David Cheever said
rat boxes are used in at least several other cities in the county including
Santee and Encinitas.