Throw ‘Em Out!

The new court case from the appellate division of Orange County’s superior court system is forcing local officials to take another look at red light camera tickets. The judge in that case ruled that photos and videos alone are not sufficient to prove a violation. And now a San Diego attorney is asking local judges to take red light camera tickets here, and throw ‘em out!

This tiny but well-known office in Hillcrest has become ground zero in the fight against red light cameras and flambouyant local attorney Mitchell Mehdy known as Mr. Ticket is leading the charge.

“They just raised the fine on June 13th. This is ridiculous, minimum mandatory $460+ for a first offense” says Mehdy

The cameras make a lot of money for the city, county, and state. Theyre run by an Arizona outfit called American Traffic Solutions. Mehdy says theyre paid over a million dollars a year for the cameras themselves, but he says the system doesn’t protect the rights of citizens who get caught on camera at an intersection.

“They’re taking this information, shipping it to Arizona, shipping it back down to San Diego, handing it to a police officer—it’s not the police officer’s fault, he’s trying to do his job—and giving him the impossible task of trying to explain what happened when he wasn’t even there” Mehdy explains.

The presiding judge of Orange County Superior Court recently agreed in writing a case that could set a legal precedent.

Now here’s the bottom line: running a red light is a criminal offense and the Constitution says when you’re charged with a crime, you have the right to confront the witnesses against you. In this case, the witness is a machine and if it’s not set up right, machines make mistakes.

“What they do is they have a custodial officer,” explains Mehdy, “he gets an evidence package and he opens it up and there are a bunch of statements in there from a bunch of people saying I did everything correctly. Now if you ask the officer any questions concerning the censors or the record history, they’re not going to know that. You’re not going to be able to confront a witness, you’re not going to be able to fight the ticket.”

Mehdy says the city needs to provide a real expert witness in each case. Someone who can testify with firsthand knowledge about how each driver was caught on camera.

“The city wants to be cheap,” he says. “They want to save as much money with the camera system and maximize profits on this thing. This fight is going to change the way they do business, and the way they do business now is just not right.”

So the attorney Jan Goldsmith says his office will respond to the red light camera challenge. It’s interesting to note that Goldsmith himself was the first local judge to dismiss a red light camera case here in San Diego and he says each case has to be proven by credible witnesses. In the meantime lawyer Mitch Mehdy says if you’re facing a red light camera ticket, don’t just pay the fine, ask for a continuance and wait until all of this gets sorted out sometime later this summer.

http://www.kusi.com/features/turko/Throw-Em-Out-98117044.html

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Mayor Says Camera Program Costs City $600,000 Yearly

SAN DIEGO — It was supposed to make the city safer and maybe a little richer, but so far the controversial red light camera program is doing just the opposite, 10News reported.

Mayor Jerry Sanders said the city needs to re-examine and rededicate the program or scrap it.

At Harbor and Grape, cameras might capture unsuspecting, distracted tourists leaving the airport If drivers run a red light, they have to pay a ticket. For the city, it’s supposed to generate fewer accidents and maybe even a little cash. “It actually costs the city about $600,000 a year,” said Sanders. Sanders said San Diego has too few intersections armed with the cameras, and the delay on those cameras is too slow to break even or seriously reduce accidents. “We see about a 9 percent decrease for red light runners. Most cities using it more widely with a 0.1-second delay actually see up to a 40 percent decrease,” said Sanders. The cameras also caused controversy when they first went in. Judges threw out the tickets because the company maintaining the system profited from the fines. The company no longer gets a cut per ticket, just a flat fee.

Mitchell Mehdy, otherwise known as Mr. Ticket, predicted this moment. “My response is very simple: Shut it down. The system isn’t fair. Have the police officers enforce the laws, not a robot,” said Mehdy.

The mayor plans to talk to the council and decide which way to go — invest in more cameras, cut down the delay time, stop the program or perhaps there’s another idea.

http://www.10news.com/news/8868473/detail.html

(SAN DIEGO, Calif.) – Move over, California, or you might get pulled over for a driving infraction you’ve never even heard of. No one likes a speed trap, and some drivers feel California’s new “move over” law is another way for law enforcers to pick on the motoring public.

It’s a new law many Californians haven’t heard about. If you are driving down the freeway, and you see emergency lights on the side of the road, you must move over and pass, leaving an extra lane of clearance between you and the incident.

California Highway Patrol Officer Art Athans says the “Move Over” law includes all emergency vehicles on the side of the freeway with their lights on.

“Whether it’s an ambulance, fire truck, police car, tow truck or Cal Trans, it’s going to apply,” Officer Athans said.

If drivers are unable to change lanes, the law states they need to slow down to a reasonable speed before passing.

“What I’m concerned about is how is an average citizen going to defend themselves on a judgment call situation… you didn’t slow down enough, you didn’t slow down and go to the right or left quickly enough,” lawyer Mitch Mehdy said.

Mehdy, also known as “Mr. Ticket,” feels the “Move Over” law is just another “gotcha” ticket.

“So now you are in a situation where if you don’t react quick enough and in exactly the right way, hey, we can charge you and put points on your record,” Mehdy said.

Countless Californians are receiving an email on the “Move Over” law that states a citation will cost drivers $754 and add three points to their driving record, but here are the facts: a citation puts one point on your driving record and levies a fine with court costs of about $150.

According to the “Move Over America” web site, almost every state in the country has a “Move Over” law. So why haven’t more Californians heard about it?

“I agree that it really has not been, for a lack of a better word, advertised,” sheriff’s Lt. Mike Cea said.

Cea says the state needs to do a better job promoting the new statute, but agrees with the law’s intent.

“The state is trying to save lives of the patrolmen and the poor Cal Trans workers,” he said.

“Mr. Ticket” disagrees, and feels the state’s main goal is trying to squeeze money out of Californians.

“There is a potential here to create more of a hazard than to prevent the hazard itself, but remember they are making money on this deal,” he said.

“We are not trying to trick anybody on this. We are just trying to keep ourselves safe,” Athans said. “Nothing in the vehicle code and enforcement of traffic laws is a gotcha make-money scheme. We are not trying to make money on this stuff.”

http://www.cbs8.com/Global/story.asp?S=11954254