Cameras set for park stop signs

Hoping to slow down motorists who speed up and down winding roads, the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority plans to install cameras at 10 different stop signs along Los Angeles' most popular routes. Motorists who blow through stop signs within Franklin Canyon Park, Temescal Park, at the top of Topanga Overlook Park, or at the top of Reseda Boulevard in the Marvin Braude Park can expect their offense to be photographed and recorded on 12 seconds of video. "We have a lot of (speeding) problems, huge problems in our parks .

.. because there are walkers," said Dash Stolarz, spokeswoman for the Santa Monica Mountain Conservancy, which is under the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority.

"In Franklin Canyon Park, people use it as a cut through because the traffic through Coldwater Canyon is terrible." A one-month study conducted by park authorities found that up to six motorists sped through a stop sign each hour, Stolarz said. The cameras will be installed by Redflex, an Arizona company that already has several contracts within Los Angeles County, including in the Santa Clarita Valley, where red light camera technology has been deemed a success.

The cameras will

be housed in what amounts to a roadside cabinet, said Charlie Carpinteri, director of technology at Redflex. Signs warning of the technology will be placed below the stop signs and throughout the parks. "(The motorist) has to come to a complete stop at the line, or else the camera will capture them," Carpinteri said.

The photographs and video will be viewed first by Redflex, then turned over to the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority park rangers, who will issue a $65 citation if a violation is found, Stolarz said. Redflex will receive a percentage of that citation, based on the contract agreement. Meanwhile, the city installed its 15th red light camera system on Thursday at the intersection of Sepulveda and Victory boulevards in Van Nuys, the site of 59 crashes in two years.

City officials said that in 2006, there were 50,623 traffic collisions in Los Angeles, and of that, 3,290 were red light traffic collisions. Since April of last year, there have been 5,822 photo red light violations that have been recorded with 3,150 citations being issued. Traffic enforcement cameras will be installed at stop signs at the following six intersections.

Four more intersections will be added later.