El Cajon has had its red light camera system since 1996, but will shutter the program effective immediately, despite a contract with a private company to run the cameras until 2014.

The cameras will remain in place but will be covered up, and the signs warning drivers of photo enforcement will come down. The contractor who has administered the City’s 10 cameras has promised to suspend their invoices for services – valued at $4,300 per camera – when the are made inoperable.

Since the cameras were installed in 1996, collisions citywide are down by 31 percent. The police department will launch a 6-month study to see how collisions and driving habits alter after the cameras are removed.

Read the full story at the U-T San Diego.