Video evidence shows a San Bernardino, California red light camera operating with a yellow time so short it violates state law.
A brand new red light camera on California’s historic Route 66 is already generating thousands in revenue for San Bernardino, but the biggest lawbreaker in these cases may turn out to be the city itself. Since September 25, a photo ticketing device has watched over the intersection of Mount Vernon Avenue and 9th Street, trapping motorists caught by a yellow light that is so short it violates state law.
Truck driver Raymond Chacon discovered this last month while taking a training course to help him upgrade his commercial driver’s license. Under the supervision of an instructor, he came to the intersection behind the wheel of a big-rig tractor trailer. He entered just a split-second after the light had turned red. After successfully completing the course and passing the Department of Motor Vehicles Class A license test “with flying colors,” Chacon received a $400 red light camera ticket in the mail. Chacon immediately began investigating what might have happened at that location. He turned to the highwayrobbery.net website, which encouraged him to check whether the city used yellow signal timing that conformed with state guidelines.
Video from the intersection in question confirms that drivers are given only 3.0 seconds of yellow, even though the California Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) insists that 35 MPH intersections have a yellow of no less than 3.6 seconds. While this 0.6 second shortage appears insignificant, it can represent the difference between a ticket and no ticket for thousands of motorists. This is even more true for truck drivers like Chacon.
El Monte, California votes to eliminate red light cameras after study shows they did not reduce accidents.
Following San Jose, California’s recent decision to reject red light cameras, the Los Angeles suburb of El Monte yesterday decided to put an end to photo ticketing after five years of use proved disappointing. With a unanimous vote, the city council declined to renew its contract with Australian camera vendor Redflex because, according to police, the cameras failed to produce any reduction in the number of intersection accidents. More importantly, however, the devices failed to produce revenue.
“We’re spending a lot of staff time on this just to gain $2000 a month,” City Manager James W. Mussenden explained.
“It doesn’t reduce accidents — that’s what our studies and results have come back.”
Data obtained by highwayrobbery.net suggest the loss in revenue could be related to changes in intersection signal timing. On April 12, 2004 the city increased the yellow warning time to 3.5 seconds for the left turn movements at the intersection of Peck Road and Ramona Boulevard. The results were immediately felt. In March 2004, before the increase, Redflex mailed 665 tickets. In May, the first full month after the increase, citations dropped to 265. This small engineering improvement cut the photo enforcement system’s total profit by $1.4 million.
The traffic ticket industry relies on people not having enough time to fight their tickets. Going to court, often multiple times, can be a burden on even the most motivated ticket fighters.
Because of the amount of time a traffic ticket case requires, we’re often asked if there is any way to fight a traffic ticket without the hassle of driving to the courthouse. The good news is that in certain states, through something called “trial by declaration” or “trial by affidavit,” it’s possible. The bad news is that those states are in the minority.
Trial by declaration allows a defendant to state their case in writing, send it to the judge, and have the judge make a decision based on the facts presented in the letter.
Although this may sound appealing, there are few things to consider before fighting a traffic ticket in this way:
When you fight your traffic ticket using trial by declaration, you give up the right to directly ask the officer questions.
Any chance of dismissal due to the absence of the ticketing officer disappears.
Because you’re not there in person it becomes much easier for the judge to find you guilty — all it takes is a rubber stamp.
In some states you give up your right to a regular trial when opting for trial by declaration.
As mentioned previously, it’s not available in the vast majority of states.
States where trial by declaration is not allowed include:
Los Altos Hills, CA residents may have spotted Betty Kerns wielding a radar gun last month.
Kerns and her husband, Bill, weren’t working for the town, however, when they parked their car, calibrated their radar gun and measured the speed of motorists on two occasions in March. They were challenging speed-control practices in their town.
The Kernses’ goal: prove that the posted 25 mph speed limit on Moody and El Monte roads doesn’t reflect the average speed of traffic – or an appropriate speed – for the main roads through Los Altos Hills.
“Everybody is going over 25,” Kerns said of the two sections they patrolled along El Monte and Moody. The Kernses, who have both received speeding tickets on El Monte, argue that the town should not be targeting those who are safely driving more than 25 mph on that road or Moody. They base their claims in part on the state’s anti-speed-trap law, known as the 85th percentile speed rule. To be enforced with radar, speed limits should be set within 5 mph of the observed critical speed of 85 percent of drivers.
After conducting their own speed survey, the Kernses observed approximately 85 percent of the cars were driving at least 43 mph westbound on El Monte, between Interstate 280 and Moody.
In the straightaway, El Monte can look like an arterial, but as it climbs into the Hills and its name changes to Moody, it begins to wind. Cars share the circuitous two-lane road on Moody with bicycle, pedestrian and horse traffic.
Third-party contractor Traffic Data Service surveyed the speed limits on town roads by dividing the roads into 34 sections. The survey, completed in March 2007, indicated that Los Altos Hills speeds are in conformity with state law. Town engineer Richard Chiu said he has no reason to believe the survey is invalid.
But Betty believes the town’s survey failed to measure sufficiently this stretch and hopes to question the survey’s validity when her husband goes to court May 14 for driving 40 mph last November.
A brand new red light camera on California’s historic Route 66 is already generating thousands in revenue for San Bernardino, but the biggest lawbreaker in these cases may turn out to be the city itself. Since September 25, a photo ticketing device has watched over the intersection of Mount Vernon Avenue and 9th Street, trapping motorists caught by a yellow light that is so short it violates state law.
Following San Jose, California’s recent decision to reject red light cameras, the Los Angeles suburb of El Monte yesterday decided to put an end to photo ticketing after five years of use proved disappointing. With a unanimous vote, the city council declined to renew its contract with Australian camera vendor Redflex because, according to police, the 
Because of the amount of time a traffic ticket case requires, we’re often asked if there is any way to fight a traffic ticket without the hassle of driving to the courthouse. The good news is that in certain states, through something called “trial by declaration” or “trial by affidavit,” it’s possible. The bad news is that those states are in the minority.
Kerns and her husband, Bill, weren’t working for the town, however, when they parked their car, calibrated their radar gun and measured the speed of motorists on two occasions in March. They were challenging speed-control practices in their town.
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