Los Angeles Red Light Cameras Die On Sunday; If You Have A Ticket, You Might Want To Ignore It

The LA Times reports:

The City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to halt Los Angeles’ controversial red-light camera program, which has ticketed more than 180,000 motorists since beginning in 2004. The program will officially end July 31.

The action followed a similar vote last month by the city Police Commission, which sought to drop the 32-camera program in part because of the difficulty in collecting fines.

But wait, the news gets better! Earlier today, the LAT helped bust the photo enforcement program wide open, reporting:

City officials this week spotlighted a surprising revelation involving red-light camera tickets: Authorities cannot force violators who simply don’t respond to pay them. For a variety of reasons, including the way the law was written, Los Angeles officials say the fines for ticketed motorists are essentially “voluntary” and there are virtually no tangible consequences for those who refuse to pay.

It’s a little more complicated than that, but those are the broad strokes.

The problem, it seems, is that Courts have decided

Unlike other moving citations, which are issued directly by a police officer to a driver who signs a promise to appear in court, red-light camera tickets are mailed to the registered owner of the vehicle allegedly involved in the violation.

That has limited the Los Angeles County Superior Court system’s willingness to aggressively enforce camera ticket collections for the city and 32 other photo enforcement programs in Los Angeles County, officials said.

Under state law, court officials have discretion over how they pursue those who do not respond to camera-generated citations. Los Angeles County Superior Court officials, as a matter of fairness, said that for the last decade they have chosen a less forceful approach partly because the person receiving the ticket may not be the person who was driving the car.

Of course, the people who paid the tickets before they knew they were “essentially voluntary” probably don’t think the situation is wildly “fair”… after all, the Court’s idea of “fairness” was to fine anyone who showed up (including those fighting a bogus citation) but ignore anyone who ignored the ticket.

The court may seek payments via collection agencies, but failures to pay do not show up on personal credit reports, court officials said. The policy applies to tickets received throughout Los Angeles County, said Greg Blair, the court’s senior administrator for traffic operations…

There is a key exception: a recipient of a camera ticket who goes to court and is ordered to pay a fine will be pursued for non-payment like any other moving violation offender. In those cases, drivers could face stiff penalties and suspended licenses, among other things, Blair said.

Some motorists reported facing harsh penalties from courts or the DMV even if they did not respond. But Blair said that is not consistent with the court’s procedures and another legal issue is probably involved. Other motorists said their insurance companies threatened to raise premiums if red-light camera tickets weren’t paid, despite the court’s policy…

But for those who ignore them and do not show up in court or admit guilt, neither the city nor the court system will force them to pay. Additionally, Cmdr. Blake Chow of the Los Angeles Police Department said those scofflaws face no risk to their credit rating, car registrations or driver’s licenses.

This bizarre amnesty is a strange way to end a camera program, but considering the cameras were mostly giving out tickets for rolling right turns in the Southern California car culture that birthed the California Stop), I’d like to think the ends justified the means. Meanwhile, the tide against red light cameras continues to roll on…