333 Nutmeg Street  *  San Diego, CA  92103    *    Phone:  619.234.3707     Fax:  619.234.3733    *    Email:  jude@itzlaw.com

"OUR NEWEST HERO!! San Diego lawyer Judith Litzenberger, successfully defended her client by convincing the traffic commissioner that red light cameras are in fact a speed trap."  

STOP….THE RED LIGHT CAMERAS!!

(photo credit:  The Roger Hedgecock Show)

Photo ticket challenges
face uphill road to win

Officials in several mainland cities
say most people end up paying the fines

---

By Treena Shapiro
tshapiro@starbulletin.com

Photo traffic enforcement citations have been overturned on appeal in several high-profile cases, but officials in mainland cities that use the traffic cameras say most people end up paying the fines and at least initially will lose in court when they challenge the tickets.

"This is a very complex type of case," said San Diego attorney Judith Litzenberger. When the defendant who gets a photo ticket for a red light violation tells the judge he thought the light was yellow, "the cop gets up and does magic math on the board and shows 'scientifically' that the light was red," she said.

"(The defendants) were being shot like fish in a barrel," she described. "That's why I got involved."

Litzenberger said she and two other attorneys gathered about 400 clients together and in September a California judge threw out 290 citations. The judge ruled that the per ticket fee that the company running the cameras collected was illegal.

 

DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM A traffic photo van, parked last week on Pali Highway near the Pali Lookout, checked the speed of passing traffic even as controversy over the camera-ticketing system swirls.

  In Hawaii, the first challenges to the photo speeding citations, will be heard in Honolulu District Court Tuesday afternoon. Only about 34 percent or 144 out of 420 citations issued with Tuesday's court date have been paid, the Judiciary announced Friday.

Six months since the photo enforcement program began in Washington D.C., people still go to court frequently to challenge the speeding tickets, said Lt. Patrick Burke, traffic coordinator for the metropolitan police. But at the same time he said 85 percent of the citations issued were paid last month.

"We haven't seen an onslaught of people contesting their tickets -- no class action lawsuits," said police spokesman Kevin Morison. However, the city is working to address public concerns by renegotiating the contract so that the vendor is paid a flat-rate rather than a per-ticket basis, he added.

Jim Thomas, an assistant city attorney in Denver, said after a flurry of initial challenges when the program was first introduced in 1998, people have gradually come to accept the photo citations.

"Initially there were challenges and we were prepared to argue the cases and we did so," Thomas said. "People found that just because they came to court to challenge it, it just didn't go away."

Like Hawaii, Thomas said, the public in Denver opposed the traffic radar program when it was first introduced in 1998, but revisions to the law and the program have led to general acceptance.

"When we focused traffic enforcement in neighborhoods and school zones, as opposed to arterial streets, the community is generally behind it," he added.

However, last month Denver attorney Gary Piroshko successfully argued that the city was giving too much police power and ticket revenue to the vendor, Affiliated Computer Systems, which also runs the Hawaii program.

Piroshko's appeal forced the Denver to put its photo radar program on hold. Piroshko also filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of 150,000 people who say the program is operated illegally, which could cost the city $10 million to repay fines.

Piroshko said his major argument is for equal protection. Drivers who are caught speeding by police officers have points taken against their drivers' licenses, whereas drivers caught speeding on camera do not lose points.

"I believe that that's unconstitutional, there's a disparate treatment," Piroshko said.

"We haven't seen an incredible amount of contests," said Alberto Gutier, director of the Arizona Governor's Office Highway Safety, who estimated that only 1 or 2 percent of people challenge their citations. The program has been in effect in Arizona since 1997.

According to Gutier, people in Scottsdale initially complained about the photo-radar program, but "then the numbers of accidents and crashes started going down" and surveys now show a 70 percent acceptance rate of the program.

Scottsdale attorney Susan Kayler said it is hard to argue in court that you were not speeding when photographic evidence and your testimony can be used against you.

People stand a better chance of having their tickets dismissed if they hire a lawyer , but that costs about $500, Kayler said. About half of the tickets challenged by attorneys are dismissed. When the driver is found responsible, about 50 percent of those cases are overturned on appeal, she added.

However, Kaylor said most people tend to pay the ticket rather than going to court. The penalties in Arizona range between $100 and $175, with the option of taking a defensive driving course for $100, she said.

In Arizona, people have had their tickets dismissed by proving they were not driving the car, that the ticket was not signed by the complainant or that the ticket was not filed within 10 days or served within four months, Kayler said.

It is also possible to contest the ticket by proving that the speed they were traveling was reasonable and prudent, however, "we're not successful with that one very often," Kayler said.

Honolulu attorney Pat McPherson has yet to see what evidence he can use when he takes up the state's photo traffic citations in court on Tuesday.

McPherson will be representing two clients who received citations. "Any time you have a test case it's very difficult because you're going into the great unknown," he said.

Since Tuesday's hearings are just initial appearances, McPherson said, "I don't know exactly what we're going to be able to produce as evidence that is just based on the ticket itself."

McPherson sees several problems with the photo traffic enforcement system introduced in Hawaii last December. For instance, the photo radar is used on every vehicle that passes the cameras, instead of singling out a vehicle going faster than the others, as a live police officer would be required to do.

He also wonders whether the people contesting their tickets will have the opportunity to confront the person who cited them, who would have to prove that the vehicle that he shot a laser at was the same one as in the photo.

Finally, McPherson has seen no proof that the radar system is accurate. "Any time you have an instrument that is measuring something, you have to have some test to prove that it's accurate," he said. "How do we know whether these lasers and picture taking things are accurate?"

 

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The Washington Times
www.washtimes.com

Yellow lights getting shorter

Published 5/23/01

A congressional report to be released today shows that yellow lights on traffic signals are getting shorter, causing more drivers to inadvertently run red lights and get caught by cameras that some say invade drivers´ privacy.

The report, from the office of House Majority Leader Rep. Dick Armey, Texas Republican, concludes that many local governments using red-light cameras have shortened the duration of yellow lights, allowing those jurisdictions to reap revenue from traffic tickets given to unsuspecting motorists. The Washington Times has obtained a copy of the report.

"When people come upon an intersection with inadequate yellow time, they are faced with the choice of either stopping abruptly on yellow [risking a rear end accident] or accelerating," an executive summary of the 23-page report states. "The options for those confronting such circumstance are limited, and unsafe. But each time a driver faces the dilemma, the government increases its odds of cashing in."

Local jurisdictions such as Fairfax County, the District and Montgomery County have cameras set up at intersections and other high-traffic spots to catch red-light runners.

Mr. Armey´s report suggests that since 1985, when yellow-light lead times began to be shortened, governments across the country have pressed for even shorter times to step up enforcement by red-light cameras.

Armey spokesman Richard Diamond said the cameras invade people´s privacy and have turned the notion of "innocent until proven guilty" on its head.

"We are told that we are supposed to give up our constitutional protections and our privacy because red-light cameras are about safety," Mr. Diamond said. "But what we have found is that these cameras may undermine safety [and with the cameras] we can´t face our accusers in court and we are assumed guilty until proven innocent."

The report states that local governments have turned the red-light cameras into a money-making enterprise. Mr. Diamond said "this is a gimmick" in which jurisdictions around the country are shortening yellow lights so that more drivers will run red lights and more revenue from traffic tickets will be collected.

The report, based on other studies and press clippings, as well as local, state and federal data from the Federal Highway Administration (FHA) and other federal agencies, found that:

 * In the District, a single camera collected more than $1 million in revenue and that $16 million was to be collected from 37 cameras throughout the city. About 40 percent of those fines have been going to the city´s contractor, Lockheed Martin.
 * In Montgomery County, local officials asked that the fines for running a red light be raised from $75 to $250.
 * In Howard County, Md., more than 70,000 tickets were written between 1998 and 2000, bringing in more than $4 million in fines.

The report states that, if the duration of a yellow light were lengthened, it would lessen the chances for accidents, especially at busy intersections. The executive summary states that when yellow-light lead times were extended by about 30 percent -- 1.4 seconds -- from an average of 3 to 4 seconds -- red-light running was eliminated or reduced by about 79 percent.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety estimates that about 260,000 crashes -- and 800 deaths and 1,200 injuries -- a year nationwide are caused by red-light runners. The report states that the insurance industry, as well as local governments, are cashing in on red-light cameras since more violations lead to higher auto insurance premiums.

Mr. Diamond said, as does the report, that the problem with the shortened yellow times can be traced back to 1985, when the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) first began to recommend that yellow lead times be shortened from the traditional five or more seconds to a little over three seconds.

In 1989, the ITE´s proposal, which is followed closely by the FHA and local and state governments, recommended that in a typical intersection "five seconds of yellow . . . reduce it to three seconds of yellow, and two seconds in which all sides of the intersection are given the red light."

Mr. Diamond said this kind of reduction makes the red light turn faster and the camera snap more often.

Lon Anderson, a spokesman for AAA Mid-Atlantic, said he had not seen the report but noted commuters in the Washington area are "generally in favor of the red-light systems."

"The public understands that red-light running kills," Mr. Anderson said.

Rep. James P. Moran, Virginia Democrat, said that he doesn´t understand why Mr. Armey is so concerned about what is essentially a local issue.

"If you stop at a red light, you shouldn´t have anything to worry about," he said.

Copyright © 2001 News World Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

Reuters
May. 22, 2001 21:33

WASHINGTON - Red-light cameras provide local governments with millions of dollars in revenue but their safety benefits are doubtful and longer yellow lights would slash violations, according to a congressional report due out on Wednesday.

The study by the office of U.S. House of Representatives Majority Leader Dick Armey says the huge revenue streams generated by the cameras coincide with disinterest in addressing traffic problems caused by shortened yellow lights.

``Red light cameras present a perverse disincentive for local jurisdictions to fix intersections with excessive red light entries, since this 'problem' brings in millions in revenues,'' a draft of the report released Tuesday concludes.

The cameras, installed at city intersections in about 40 U.S. communities so far, automatically photograph the vehicles and license plates of drivers who run red lights.

New York city collected $9 million in revenue from its camera program last year.

The report says studies finding safety benefits from the red light cameras often ignore increases in rear-end collisions that result from people braking suddenly for fear of being ticketed.

Data showing that almost 80 percent of red light violations occur within the first second of the red light strongly suggest inadequate yellow time is the major cause of red-light running, the report said.

But just last month, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety said there was ``solid evidence'' the red light cameras were cutting crashes and improving the way people drive.

DECLINE IN FRONT-TO-SIDE COLLISIONS

The insurance industry group, which studies auto-related safety issues, cited accident figures in Oxnard, California, to highlight the benefits of red-light cameras.

Since the cameras appeared in Oxnard in 1997, there had been a 32 percent decline in front-into-side vehicle collisions -- the type most commonly associated with red-light running.

Crashes declined throughout Oxnard even though only 11 of the city's 125 intersections with traffic signals were equipped with cameras, the insurance group said.

Armey's office said the Oxnard study's connection between area accidents and red light cameras was only implied as the crash data was not detailed enough to identify crashes that were specifically red light running events.

``The only documented benefit to red light cameras is to the pocketbook of local governments,'' the report said.

Earlier this month, Armey took aim at National Park Service plans to use radar cameras to ticket speeders on busy parkways around the national's capital saying it was a step toward a ''surveillance state.''

Insurance institute spokesman Stephen Oesch, who had not seen the Armey study, said the Oxnard data demonstrated the benefits of cameras to curb red light running -- which kills 750 people a year in the United States.

"Light timing is an important tool but there are still people who will run red lights,'' Oesch said.

Lockheed Martin IMS, a Lockheed Martin Corp. unit, is a major supplier of photo enforcement systems to governments in the United States and Canada.

Some of Mesa's red-light cameras are working so well that police are talking about disconnecting them.

But before motorists get too cocky, they also need to know that Mesa officers propose expanding the hours and locations of their photo-radar vans to catch more speeders, especially in school zones and neighborhoods.

Lockheed Martin IMS, the company operating the cameras, has been losing money on five of the city's 17 cameras and is asking the city to disconnect them, Mesa police Cmdr. Richard Clore said. The cameras snap pictures of people who run red lights and of their license plate numbers.

The company gets reimbursed $48.50 a ticket and was expecting to nab about 18 violators a day. In some cases, it's only catching one person a day. Clore said that may be because the city recently lengthened its yellow lights by a second.

"From a public safety perspective, we can call this a success," Clore said. "But from the vendor's point of view, I imagine they are not happy."

He said he doesn't yet know which intersections would be affected. The camera housings would remain in place so motorists might not notice.

As for the photo-radar vans, police propose expanding the hours to 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. and sending them to more streets. Now they operate between 5 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. and only on major streets such as Broadway Road and Country Club Drive.

The changes will need approval from the Mesa City Council. The council's police committee will consider the proposed changes today.

Reach the reporter at betty.beard@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-7982.

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Forced To Run The Red?

"ROGER may have set a new Community Forum record for launching an attack on a windmill. Wednesday of last week the boss and y’all begin the gripe about Red Light Cameras in San Diego and the county. As always gripes are tolerated on ROGER’S show for about 15 seconds and then up comes the question: “So what are we gonna do about (fill in the blank)” Before show ends on Wednesday last, boss and his constitutional lawyer Peter Lepiscopo (with youse all in cohoots) hatch a plan to contest the cameras on Fifth Amendment grounds (remember the “We The People,” document?)…The Red Light ticket requires that you admit being the driver or finking on whomever was driving…self incrimination?…Calls pour in from folks willing to be our test case plaintiff..but the better part happens on Thursday when we learn that the above referenced barrister Judith Litzenberger has that very day had her clients Red Cam case tossed because, diligent litigant that she is, she researched state codes and Red Cam specs..argues that cams amount to a “speed trap,” which are illegal in Gold State!! Armed with that info, ROGER and Peter Lepiscopo are set today to move to have SD city council shutter all the Red Cams immediately..moreover the duo wants council to appoint a trustee to determine how many folks have been victimized by illegal Red Cams and come up with a process by which said victims will be rebated the illegally collected fines (which amount to a tidy $271.00 a pop). Refusal by council to act promptly will require Peter to seek an urgent injunction from a local court."