The bill is junk. Simitian is not the motorist's friend. He is a long time SUPPORTER of cameras and always votes for bigger fines, more surcharges. This current bill is his devious attempt to give the appearance of doing something, to deceive the constituents who are calling his office complaining about the ticket mills in his district and north of it on the SF Peninsula. The bill actually makes things worse. For example, it reduces the number of warning signs, from four per intersection under current law, to just one or two. (Compare the bill's version of 21455.5(a)(1) to the current version.) The signs will be required only on the one or two directions (of the four) actually having a camera. Thus, a scofflaw who is inclined to run the red lights in town will no longer be unsure about which intersections, or which direction through them, he can run. He will know that if there isn't a big warning sign right in front of him, he can blast through without risking a ticket. If Simitian really wanted to help motorists, he would do a bill to cut the fine for rolling right turns, like what Assemblyman Jerry Hill proposed last year (vetoed by Gov. Schwarzenegger).

I am also concerned about some of other motoring legislation NOT going thru the legislature right now, and the fact that no one seems to be writing about it.
There is a bill (AB 3) that started out good, to do something about the 1.5 million cars with protected plates (these are the private vehicles of government employees and their families, and the plates make them immune to camera and toll tickets). AB 3 has just been amended into worthlessness, no doubt because of pressure from govt. employee organizations.

If you too are concerned, phone your legislators.

Fight the RLC scam!

Check out:

www.motorists.org
www.banthecams.org
www.camerafraud.com
www.bhspi.org

and: Web Link

The only acceptable answer to red light cameras is a total ban. Red light cameras are just a cynical means to make money with improper and/or unethical traffic management policies. Red light cameras only produce significant profits when the engineering is deliberately done in a less safe manner, usually with too short yellows, and/or tickets are given to very slow rolling right on red turns where there was NO safety issue (as is usually the case). With correct engineering and ethical traffic management policies, the entire predatory red light camera industry would go bankrupt. Cities have become business-partners with this unethical industry that has only profits as its motive. The lure of easy cash with unethical traffic policies is too strong for many cities to resist, so the only real answer is to ban these predatory devices. Note that cameras have NEVER survived a public vote - see www.thenewspaper.com Once citizens see the predatory nature of ticket cameras, they vote them out at every opportunity. The unbiased science is on our website. Maybe you will read it and join us to rid the country of the scourge of red light cameras. Then cities may return to doing engineering for safety, and not for cash. James C. Walker, National Motorists Association, www.motorists.org, Ann Arbor, MI