This is a Legislative Alert from www.highwayrobbery.net
A group of our legislators in Sacramento last week filed Assembly Bill 342, to allow the use of speed cameras (photo radar) in California.
In December, another group of our legislators in Sacramento filed Senate Bill 1, which will raise gas
taxes and registration fees.
The two bills — if they pass — will cost each of us hundreds of dollars every year.
SB 1 is coming to a crucial hearing in the Senate Transportation Committee today, Valentine’s Day. Info about both bills is on the Action/Legis page at my website.
It’s easy to call a state legislator’s office, one of the few places anymore where a live person answers the phone after just a few rings. Their phone numbers are in the Government section at the front of your local phone book, or you can find them by Googling find California legislator.
Preventive measures:
1. Would you like to have speed cameras (photo radar) in California? How about higher car registration fees, and higher gas tax? In early 2017, all of these are in bills in the Legislature in Sacramento. See the Action/Legis page for more information.
2. Warn your friends about Snitch Tickets. They’re FAKE tickets issued by the police, and are sneakily different from a REAL red light camera ticket. And they can be ignored. Read about them at the top of the Your Ticket page, at www.highwayrobbery.net
3. Also let your friends know that REAL tickets issued by the cities in L.A. County can be ignored, because the LA County court does not report ignored camera tickets to the DMV. That ability to ignore includes tickets from the MTA/Metro, too. (More info is in Set # 2 on the L.A. County Docs page.) Educating your friends about these two big classes of tickets that can be ignored will reduce the money flowing to the greedy cities and camera companies and hasten the demise of red light cameras in California.
4. Do you drive in Bakersfield, Canoga Park, Cathedral City, Culver City, Lynwood, Millbrae (adjacent to SFO), Montebello, Rancho Cordova, Redding, San Leandro, or Ventura? In 2016, those cities greatly expanded their camera ticketing, so watch out.
5. There is a very practical reason not to shop any more in red light towns. In the questionnaire on my website, I ask defendants how often they have driven thru the intersection where they got their ticket. While the majority of defendants were caught at intersections they had not visited previously, many were flashed at an intersection they were very familiar with.
Conclusion: You are not safe from getting a ticket — or getting in an accident — simply because you know there’s a camera there. It is necessary to change your routine, to eliminate repeated visits to the intersection. (It’s like playing with snakes: No matter how careful you try to be, eventually they will catch you off guard, and you will get bit.) The small amount of money you have saved at the big box discount store in that town will be more than offset by the cost of tickets, rear-ending someone, or being rear-ended.