California: City Refunds $1.4 Million in Illegal Traffic Camera Tickets

Every red light camera ticket issued in South San Francisco, California is invalid.

South San Francisco MayorThe city of South San Francisco, California last week admitted it had issued red light camera tickets under an ordinance that had never been properly ratified. As a result, every ticket, worth $446 each, that the city allowed American Traffic Solutions (ATS) to issue since August 2009 was invalid. Over 3000 citations and accompanying license points will be refunded.

California: City Refunds $1.4 Million in Illegal Traffic Camera Tickets

There is poetic justice after all!:)
That mayor should be fired, tarred 'n feathered and run out of town!
And then that mayor should be prosecuted for allowing the issuance of illegal citations, fines and violating local laws.

The City should also be forced to pay not only any increases of insurance premiums but also legal fees and hardship costs for people losing their DL due to the added points of these RLC citations.

$446 for a RLC ticket and points on the DL??
No wonder politicians love these revenue gathering RLCs.
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SSF is not the only Bay Area city with a big problem with its cameras. Daly City and San Mateo each have been the subject of an appeal case where the appeal court ruled that the contracts between the city and their camera supplier are illegal, a violation of the CVC 21455.5(g) prohibition of compensation based upon a percentage of fine revenue. (See P. vs. Bullock, P. v. Lopez.) Other Bay Area cities with the same problem are Menlo Park, Millbrae, Newark, Redwood City, San Leandro, and Union City.

And another dirty little secret: Many California cities issue Snitch Tickets, which are fake/phishing red light camera tickets currently sent out by the police in an effort to fool the registered owner into identifying the actual driver of the car. (He doesn't have to!) Local cities using this "social engineering" tactic are Daly City, Elk Grove, Emeryville, Fairfield, Marysville, Millbrae, Modesto, Newark, Redding, Rocklin, San Leandro, San Leandro, San Mateo, Stockton and Union City. Snitch tickets have not been filed with the court, so they don't say "Notice to Appear," don't have the court's address and phone # on them, and usually say, on the back (in small letters), "Do not contact the court about this notice." Since they have not been filed with the court, they have no legal weight whatsoever. You can ignore a Snitch Ticket. If in doubt, Google the term