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Unpaid Tickets To Be Wiped Clean As End Nears For Red-Light Cameras

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — The city's controversial red-light camera program will end this weekend after officials moved to end the contract with the camera company.

Police officers will no longer appear in court for red-light camera cases in the wake of a vote on Tuesday by the Police Commission to stop collecting fines from violators.

The move essentially means that all unpaid tickets will be removed from record after the City Council decided to end the program last July.

Councilman Mitch Englander, who represents Granada Hills, Northridge, Porter Ranch, and other communities in the San Fernando Valley, told KNX 1070 the program was flawed from its inception.

"The fines were excessive, it was punitive, it was way too high," said Englander.

Fines started at $480 per violation, but typically drivers would pay $550 or more after fees.

Englander also noted that most red-light cameras were installed based on the city council districts rather than at the most dangerous intersections in the city.

A CBS2 investigation in 2009 found that accidents went up after the $1 million program was launched at 32 intersection throughout the city.

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