Refunds for Red Light Camera Tickets

Drivers in a Class Action Law Suit seek more than $23 million in reimbursements, the amount that the cities paid to the contractor. The California Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether tens of thousands of drivers in San Francisco and other cities can seek partial refunds of the fines they paid for running red lights before 2004, when the private contractor that operated traffic cameras at intersections got a cut of the money from each ticket. ACS State and Local Solutions, typically got about one-third of each red-light fine. That fine is now $380 but was less during the years covered by the case. The Legislature has prohibited such fee arrangements since 2004 and instead requires cities to pay contractors a flat rate for their work, regardless of the number of tickets issued or fines collected. The court case involves tickets issued during the preceding four years.

The case is a consolidation of suits filed on behalf of about 300,000 ticketed drivers in 14 cities and Los Angeles County, plaintiffs' lawyers said Thursday. The cities include San Francisco, Santa Rosa, Redwood City and Cupertino.

See these recent stories below.

Philadelphia - https://www.nbc10.com/news/17706251/detail.html
San Diego - https://www.cbs8.com/story.php?id=141872#

Goldman Sachs Invests $50M in ATS American Traffic Solutions

Scottsdale, AZ based ATS is the largest independent, privately held company providing photo traffic enforcement services in North America. The company's 2007-08 quarterly compound revenue growth rate exceeded 80 percent. Photo traffic enforcement is now used in approximately 300 communities in 25 American states and the District of Columbia. ATS currently serves more than 125 municipalities in 18 states, the District of Columbia and the Province of Alberta, Canada. New York City, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Houston, Fort Worth, Phoenix, St. Louis, Seattle and San Diego are all ATS customers. ATS Traffic Solutions https://www.atsol.com largest competitor is Australia based Red Flex group https://www.redflex.com.

Speed Camera Vans In Operation

Here is a great video that describes the operation of a mobile speed photo enforced van in Chicago. There are five photo enforcement vans across the state of Illinois. The speed enforcement vans proved more effective than placing electronic radar signs on the highway shoulder to show drivers their real-time speed, or even deploying police cars to sit on the side of the road, the research found.

The Illinois State Police photo vans are capable of identifying scores of speeding scofflaws across multiple lanes of traffic in only a few minutes, ringing up minimum of $375 speeding tickets that are sent in the mail for the work-zone violations. It's a process law-enforcement officials say is much more efficient—and safer for police officers—than pulling over individual speeders as traffic rushes past.

In addition, it's a mystery to drivers how much leeway is given above the 45 m.p.h. construction zone speed limit. Does going 50 m.p.h. trigger a ticket, or do you have to be speeding at 10 m.p.h. above the work zone speed limit? The answer changes from one jurisdiction to another.

Photo Enforced Parking Tickets Are Coming

CHICAGO DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE ANNOUNCES PHOTO-ENFORCED HANDHELD ISSUED PARKING TICKETS

Photos Mailed to Registered Owners Will
Also, Be Available Online

The Department of Revenue announced today that it will begin including pictures of certain parking ticket violations in notices mailed to registered owners. Parking tickets issued by the Department of Revenue will be supported by photos showing the violations.

The initial enforcement will include violations issued for missing, expired, or improperly displayed license plates, city stickers, and residential parking permits. The photographs will be taken by camera-enabled handheld ticket issuance devices and will be recorded at the time the tickets are issued.

"No one likes to get parking tickets," said Revenue Director Bea Reyna-Hickey. "However, when motorists are provided strong evidence that a violation occurred, they can either promptly pay or contest the ticket."

"It's been our experience that sometimes well-meaning people who never intended to violate the law, need to see this reminder," she added.

"It's important that people adhere to our parking laws if we're to provide every neighborhood with adequate parking and protect their safety."

Related posts:
Parking Ticket Photo Enforcement