The city has contracted with Photo Enforcement Group, a unit of Lockheed Martin Corp., to install and operate cameras at those sites to automatically photograph vehicles which enter the intersections while the signal is against them.

Based on the speed at which they do so, the system judges whether it was deliberate. Such scofflaws usually increase speed when they see a light turn yellow in a race to beat the switch. That is the opposite of how the law said it is supposed to work. Violators rely on safety delays in the timing of the signal to keep their path clear of opposing traffic, but it has become increasingly noticeable that those margins are being shaved by more aggressive drivers.

Registered owners of the vehicles are then notified by mail of the violation and assessed a fine, which is legally enforceable in the same manner as a parking ticket.

City Councilman Gerald Brady said the arrangement is the culmination of a 2½-year effort to include Wilmington among the relatively few places which use current technology to deal with a traffic safety problem which many experts in the field agree has increased dramatically in recent years.

"Red-light running has become one of the most frequent and intractable traffic offenses -- occurring as frequently as once every five minutes. Research from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety shows that red-light running and other signal-related violations are the most frequent [cause] of urban crashes," according to the National Organization for Traffic Intersection Safety, which is lobbying around the nation to get state and local legislation to permit photographic enforcement.

The organization claims that about two-thirds of the public support the idea.

During the just-completed session of the General Assembly, laws were enacted to triple the fine for ignoring a red light to $75 and to permit police officers to make arrests in instances where a colleague actually witnessed the violation. Representative Helene Keeley, who represents a Wilmington district, was primary sponsor of those laws.

According to a recently published study, Delaware ranks ninth among the states in the proportionate number of accidents attributed to red-light violations.

Ironically, Wilmington and other municipalities are excluded from levying the higher fine -- a provision which was softpedaled in state promotion about getting serious dealing with the offense. Fines for failure to stop for a stop sign or violating a yield sign were not included in the legislation.

Not being able to assess the higher amount is not a drawback to the intended purpose of the new city arrangement, Brady said. The fact that a fine will almost certainly follow an act which previously went unpunished most of the time will be deterrent enough, he said. In Oxnard, Calif., the violation rate was reduced 42% within a few months after the system was installed, Lockheed Martin said.

The Wilmington system will be operative some time between the middle of August and the middle of September, Brady said.

The city will be the first in the state to have one. Newark previously toyed with the idea, but did not go ahead with it.

It will "not cost us one cent," he added, explaining that the city and the company will split the proceeds from the fines 60-40. There is a similar agreement with the same company for collecting the city's parking fines.

Here's how the system works: Cameras are connected to the traffic signals and sensors in the street. After the light turns red, any vehicle which crosses the sensor at a pre-set minimum speed is photographed from an angle which captures its rear license plate. A second photograph, which will show the vehicle in the intersection, is taken for evidence. The camera records date, time, vehicle speed and the length of time elapsing since the signal turned. An electronic flash enables the camera to capture a usable image at night or in low light.

The old dodge of claiming to have started across on the yellow light is avoided because the cameras do not take a picture unless the light is red when the sensor triggers it.

Brady said he understands that Lockheed Martin is working on perfecting  technology to extend its system to sop- and yield-sign enforcement.