To Motorists Concerned about the Culver City Red Light Camera program:
The City Council on Monday night voted approval of a Police Dept. request to expand Culver City’s red light camera program by placing eight cameras at two intersections not presently having cameras — Washington at National and Washington at Sepulveda.
This expansion is in addition to “improvements” made over the last several months.
The “improvements” have enabled the city’s existing cameras to flash a lot more violations, especially right turns.
One of the “improved” cameras, which monitors northbound Sepulveda at Green Valley – in the southern corner of town, near the Westfield Mall – is now generating 10 times as many tickets each month – about 1300 – as it did during its average month in 2015.
But the big increase in enforcement there does not seem to be justified. –
At www.highwayrobbery.net, its review of the 2011-2015 official California Highway Patrol accident reports for that intersection found not one accident caused by red light running. (That review is part of Set No. 7 of Culver City Docs, on the highwayrobbery.net website.)
Highwayrobbery.net estimates that the recent “improvements,” plus the eight cameras proposed at the two new intersections, will more than double the number of tickets issued by the Culver City red light camera system. That will also be more than double the number of camera tickets issued by any other California city.
The Police Dept.’s request for approval was part of the annual city budget.
Here is a list of preventive measures that drivers can take:
- Would you like to have speed cameras (photo radar) in California? How about higher sales taxes, higher car registration fees, and higher gas taxes? ( Or, how about a lower fine for rolling
right turn tickets?) As of early 2016, all of these are in bills working their way through the Legislature in Sacramento – or coming soon. See the Action/Legis page for more information. - Warn your friends about Snitch Tickets. They are 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 highwayrobbery,net/redlightcamsticket.htm#Fakes .
- Let your friends know that real tickets issued by cities — or the L.A. MTA – in L.A. County can be ignored, because the L.A. County court does not report ignored camera tickets to the DMV. (More information is in Set No. 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.
- Do you drive in Culver City, Beverly Hills, Canoga Park, or Millbrae (adjacent to SFO)? In 2016 those cities greatly expanded their camera ticketing. So watch out!
- There is a 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 through 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 is 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. 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.
Mr. Lissner, who edits the aforementioned website, may be contacted at editor@highwayrobbery.net
