If you got a ticket for running a red light in San Mateo, you might be getting your money back. Nearly a thousand drivers were ticketed at the intersection of Saratoga Drive and Hillsdale Boulevard, but it turns out the timing for the yellow light at that intersection was off.
San Mateo announced Thursday that it is ending its red-light camera program and dismissing or refunding 985 citations issued at an intersection where the yellow-light timing was in error.
According to the city, an evaluation of the program determined that the safety benefits of the program have plateaued as it has also become more challenging to administer.
The decision comes after the discovery of an error in yellow-light timing at the intersection of Saratoga Drive and Hillsdale Boulevard. The yellow-light timing when driving south on Saratoga Drive was inadvertently set to 3.4 seconds during a construction project. The state-mandated minimum for yellow lights is 3.6 seconds.
The 985 citations issued for that approach at that particular intersection between Dec. 4 and May 20 have been identified and affected drivers are being contacted by the city.
"We are doing everything possible to remedy the situation for those who were affected by this recent error," City Manager Drew Corbett said in a release.
Although the official announcement of its ending came Thursday, the program has been suspendedsince the yellow-light timing issue was discovered in May.
All other citations for photo enforcement violations in San Mateo remain valid.
