Calif. bill would expand red-light cameras, remove right to trial, require owner to pay

[Newsjock]

Source: NBC Bay Area

Red-light camera tickets may be returning to a stop light near you with a reduced fine, and a likelihood that you pay no matter what if Assembly Bill 666 is approved in California.

AB 666 -- also known as the “Devil’s Bill” by the opposition -- was introduced by Assemblyman Bob Wieckowski in Sacramento early February, and would make the process of settling a red light camera ticket a civil process rather than criminal, meaning a driver wouldn’t have the right to a trial.

... With the new bill, a judge would not oversee the case, and the owner of the car would be responsible to pay the ticket regardless of whether the owner was driving or not.

... Supporters of the bill, however, argued that the objective is not to punish drivers, but to stop motorists from running red lights.

Read more: http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Red-Light-Camera-Tickets-Making-a-Comeback-200793331.html

[slackmaster]

1. Here's what San Diego Mayor Bob Filner said about the red light camera system he shut down

“Seems to me that such a program can only be justified if there are demonstrable facts that prove that they raise the safety awareness and decrease accidents in our city,” Filner said of the cameras. “The data, in fact, does not really prove it.”

Bicycle and pedestrian groups immediately raised safety concerns about the end of the program. Still, Filner called it the San Diego version of a traffic trap, and said he would rather have the four officers who were reviewing the camera’s photos back on the streets interacting directly with motorists.

“It just seemed to me that the hostility toward them (the cameras) bred more disrespect for the law than respect for the law,” Filner said, adding that many members of the public felt the program was only about making the city money.

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/feb/01/san-diego-red-light-cameras-filner-halts/

slackmaster comments: Mayor Filner is right.

[upaloopa]

3. Bicycle riders complained? Hell they run red lights

as a matter of practice.

[kestrel91316]

6. LOL, not in Los Angeles. Here we know that we take our lives in our hands even when we

obey every letter of the law. It's the cars that run red lights all day every day.

Hey, people, if you simply slow down when you make that right turn on a red, rather than coming to a full stop and then LOOKING TO THE RIGHT TO MAKE SURE THERE ARE NO PEDESTRIANS OR CYCLISTS APPROACHING FROM THE RIGHT, you are part of the problem. Stop doing that.

[zappaman]

15. As both a bike rider and a car driver, I say BULLSHIT

The amount of bicyclists who run red lights and especially STOP signs, is far, far more than motorists.

I love when I'm on my bike and as I slow down for a yellow, knowing full well I can't make it, some Lance Armstrong Wannabe flies right by me and thru the intersection even after it turned red.

A couple of months ago, I saw a guy get whacked after cycling thru a red light. He tried to blame the owner of the car, but myself and another witness put the blame where it belonged. That day I too was on a bike.

Maybe it has to do with where you live, but the cyclists in my area could care less about the letter of the law.

[itsrobert]

21. WELL SAID!!!!

Bike riders always running red.

[villager]

2. This is just a scam for the companies that make the red lights, want the contracts,

and agree to "kick back" a percentage of their profits to the cities who install them.

[Gormy Cuss]

9. Exactly right. It's about making the program more lucrative.

It has nothing to do with safety.

[villager]

12. is anything done "for our safety" by the corporate-owned government sector

... actually for our safety?

Or for theirs?

[Gormy Cuss]

22. Well, there's those full body scanners at the airports

[villager]

23. ...and the forced removal of our shoes, "to boot!"

[ChazII]

18. You hit the nail on the head

as the cliché goes. It is all about raising $$ for the city.

[NYC_SKP]

4. If they want to do that, then let the violations not count as points on your insurance.

Asshats.

[slackmaster]

5. Yes, and if it is made into a civil process the defendant has a constitutional right to counter-sue.

This is one of the dumbest ideas I've seen in a long time.

[TeamPooka]

13. correct. they are opening a can of worms here.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

7. This is moving the CA legislature and has the backing of Democratic of some pols

The sponsor apparently took campaign contributions from the companies that do the cameras. It eliminates rights to a hearing etc. Bad news all around and an embarrassment to the Democratic Party

http://stopab666.org/

[slackmaster]

19. A career politician lobbying for companies that gave him money? Big surprise there.

[MindPilot]

10. If a whole lot of people are breaking a law...

the problem is with the law, not the people.

The vast majority of people do not drive through red lights because they don't want to get a ticket; they don't drive though red lights because they don't want to get t-boned by a cement truck.

At intersections that do have a problem with red light runners, the cause is most likely a too-short yellow light time. There have been numerous experiments and studies which demonstrate when yellow lights are set in concordance with the prevailing approach speed--usually about one second per 10 mph--compliance goes way up and collisions go way down.

Photo enforcement is nothing but gotcha justice and profiteering.

[Mariana]

11. Some places have shortened the yellow light times

after the cameras were put in place because too many people obeyed the law and stopped. They made it near impossible to avoid running the red so as to be able to ticket more people.

http://blog.motorists.org/6-cities-that-were-caught-shortening-yellow-light-times-for-profit/

[MindPilot]

14. When they first were installed in San Diego several years ago

Not only were the yellows shortened, there were a couple that actually triggered before the limit line. If you were first to the intersection, you got a ticket even if you stopped.

And as is true with many of the schemes the government has to fund corporations with taxpayer dollars, legislators allow companies like Redflex to write the laws. (Redflex BTW is an Australian company; it is bad enough the we have for-profit law enforcement, this is foreign for-profit law enforcement)

[slackmaster]

20. I've seen people cover their faces and step on the gas when the light turns yellow at one of...

...those intersections on many occasions.

[MindPilot]

16. Redflex is too corrupt even for Chicago!

Emanuel says speed camera program will proceed despite Redflex probe
Controversial firm has been barred from new city business
Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Thursday that he believes his administration does not need to halt implementation of a speed camera program in light of a federal bribery investigation centering on a former city employee who went on to work for an organization that lobbied for speed cameras in Illinois.

Federal authorities are probing the finances of John Bills, the former managing deputy commissioner of transportation, following an internal investigation by city red light camera vendor Redflex Traffic Systems Inc. that found evidence that its Chicago program was likely built on a $2 million bribery scheme involving Bills and a longtime friend hired as the company's Chicago consultant.

After leaving his city job in 2011, Bills was hired by Emanuel political consultant Greg Goldner, working for the Redflex-funded Traffic Safety Coalition. Goldner said Bills was hired to bolster the group's efforts to legalize speed cameras statewide and across the nation.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-rahm-emanuel-redflex-0329-20130329,0,4316093.story

[Paul E Ester]

17. Thats what they did to marijuana.

When people were getting cases thrown out by demanding jury trials they made it a incontestable fine.