The Cupertino Courier

News

Law enforcement to focus on those who run red lights

By Hugh Biggar

Cupertino drivers naughty or nice best beware this holiday season.

Deputies with the county sheriff's office will be watching intersections and checking them twice.

As part of a crackdown on red-light runners in Cupertino, the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office and the city plan to monitor intersections through the month of December.

"The campaign is in response to numerous complaints we've received," said Rick Kitson, Cupertino's communications manager.

Previously, Cupertino had tried limiting red-light runners by installing cameras at intersections. Mounted above the intersections, the cameras photographed the license plates of drivers speeding through red lights.

"We had tried cameras, but it's always hard to prosecute those kinds of violations," Kitson said. "Judges didn't have the confidence to make a conviction based on photographs; they would rather have a police officer see it happen."

In particular, Kitson said the intersection of De Anza Boulevard at Highway 280 will be a focus of the crackdown.

"In front of Apple where people get on 280 has been the source of a number of complaints," he said. "They run the lights there and block the box."

Those vehicles that don't make it through before the light changes can then impede the flow of traffic through intersections, he explained.