BY TONY BIZJAK, Sacramento Bee

California courts will give drivers with unpaid traffic tickets a financial break under a limited state amnesty program launched this week.

Motorists with outstanding tickets originally due on or before Jan. 1, 2013 will be allowed to pay them off at a reduced amount, either 50 percent or 80 percent of the citation amount, depending on the driver’s income, state officials said.

All assessed penalties will be waived, and payments can be made in installments.

And on Wednesday, Gov. Jerry Brown signed Senate Billl 405 by Sen. Bob Hertzberg, D-Los Angeles, to guarantee motorists can fight their tickets in court before being required to pay their fines.

The program, authorized by Senate Bill 85 and promoted by the Brown administration, goes into effect Thursday. It contains provisions that will allow license reinstatement for drivers who lost their license because they failed to pay the fine or appear in court.

Posted by Vanguard Administrator

(From ACLU Press Release) – With a growing chorus of voices demanding systemic police reform, California is poised to pass AB 953: The Racial and Identity Profiling Act of 2015, the first-of-its-kind bill to collect basic information on police stops in order to combat racial and identity profiling. The bill, introduced by Assemblymember Shirley Weber (D-San Diego), was approved by the California Senate today and will return to its house of origin for concurrence. Following concurrence, AB 953 will be considered for signature by Governor Brown.

“Recent incidents have forced us to confront some ugly truths about the persistence of racial bias in law enforcement. One of our best defenses is information about who is stopped by police and why. Currently, information on these incidents isn’t provided publicly in a comprehensive way. The goal of AB 953 is to rectify this so we can make policies with the best information possible,” Weber said.

Just last week, nearly 800 people descended upon the capitol to urge Governor Brown to pledge his support for AB 953. Protestors staged three die-ins – each lasting four and a half minutes to represent the four and a half hours Michael Brown’s body lay on the ground after he was killed – and then proceeded to occupy the halls outside of Governor Brown’s office for over two hours. Specifically, participants cited racial profiling as one of the reasons why people of color are being killed by police at racially disproportionate rates.

Read more…

by Barbara Marquand | posted in Auto Insurance

Crashes involving drivers who run red lights kill hundreds of people a year and injure many more. In an effort to reduce red-light violations, cities across the country have installed traffic cameras to catch violators in the act.

Run a red light, and snap! The camera takes a photo of your license plate, and a ticket arrives later in the mail. In some states your car insurance rates could go up, while in others these tickets-by-mail have no impact.

[Tickets? You might be able to get a better deal by comparing quotes through NerdWallet’s Car Insurance Tool.]

While hundreds, if not thousands, of cameras have been installed, research on whether the cameras actually make roads safer is inconclusive. Critics say camera programs are more about making money for cities and camera companies than improving safety, and 10 states have prohibited their use, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association.

Read more…

California Court of Appeal rules that this is the wrong plaintiff and wrong lawyer to challenge red light camera collection tactics.

California’s second highest court on Thursday blocked a class action lawsuit against a red light camera collection agency. Motorist Richard Howard had filed suit against GC Services after he received notices falsely claiming that he owed $680 to the Los Angeles County Superior Court over an unpaid red light camera citation. The state Court of Appeal refused to allow his claim to be heard by a jury because this was the wrong person, with the wrong lawyer, to bring the case as a class action.

When Howard received a collection letter on July 12, 2010, he was confused as he had never received any photo ticket in the mail. Howard lives six hours away from Los Angeles in Concord, and he had not driven that far south since 1999. The state Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) knew nothing about the citation.

Howard’s suit argues that the collections letter was filled with fraudulent claims, including the false statement that the county court would garnish his wages if he failed to pay up immediately. In Los Angeles County, the court actually refused to enforce photo tickets, which led to the city dropping its camera program entirely. The collection letters were sent to as many as 22,000 motorists.

Read more…

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ … speed was a factor, but Justin was cited for unsafe passing on the right. JB was also given an equipment violation for window tint.

Justin Bieber’s passion for fast cars got the best of him Saturday night, when he got stopped by a Beverly Hills cop … and plenty of reinforcements.

Witnesses tell TMZ, Justin was going well over the 25 MPH speed limit in his new Ferrari when he was spotted on a residential street in Bev Hills.

After the stop, 3 other squad cars rolled up.  It’s unclear why.  We’re told Justin got a speeding ticket and went on his way.

He did not ask the cops, “What do you mean?”  They were clear.

Read more: http://www.tmz.com/2015/08/30/justin-bieber-cops-police-speeding-video/#ixzz3lBXtLzLq

Highland Community News

Four police officers conducted the crosswalk detail Thursday, Aug. 20, at three intersections – Cajon and Vine streets; Redlands Boulevard between State and Fifth streets; and Olive Avenue between Cajon and Grant streets. Drivers were cited for failure to yield to a pedestrian within a crosswalk. Two bicycle riders were also cited for traffic violations.

Additional crosswalk enforcement efforts are planned in the coming months. Funding for the enforcement efforts came from a $155,410 Selective Traffic Enforcement Program (STEP) grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, accepted by the City Council in September 2014. The grant covers traffic safety, enforcement and education activities.

Read more…

Judge Tim Dickerson, Sierra Vista Herald

It may be informative, perhaps even surprising or amusing, to review some new, little known, or often ignored traffic laws.

In the category of little known laws, the driver of a vehicle exiting from an alley or private driveway, such as from a business along Fry Boulevard or a driveway in a residential area, must stop the vehicle immediately before driving onto the sidewalk or sidewalk area. The driver must also yield the right of way to pedestrians and approaching vehicles.

It is no longer a new law, but if a driver approaches a stationary vehicle which is displaying alternately flashing lights or warning lights, on a roadway with at least two lanes proceeding in the same direction as the approaching vehicle, the driver must change lanes away from the stationary vehicle if it is safe to do so. If the driver cannot safely change lanes, he or she must proceed with caution and reduce their speed, while maintaining a safe speed for road conditions.

Read more…

PR Rocket

Newport Beach, CA (PRWEB) August 18, 2015

On June 24, 2015, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law a one-time sweepinghttp://www.courts.ca.gov/trafficamnesty.htm Traffic Ticket Amnesty for the entire State of California. CheapTrafficAttorneys.com announces the opening of a Newport Beach (Orange County), CA,Office to assist Driver’s in qualifying for the upcoming Traffic Ticket Amnesty.

Beginning October 1, 2015, and expiring March 31, 2017, qualifying driver’s may have their past due traffic fines reduced by up to 80% and have their Driver’s License status reinstated to valid. Full guidelines for this California Traffic Ticket Amnesty effecting Failure to Appear and Failure to Paytickets may be found on the Superior Court’s website.

Read more…

By SUSAN C. SCHENA (Patch)

News from the Petaluma PD:

The City of Petaluma Police Department and the Traffic Engineering Department will be conducting the “Safe Routes to School Traffic Safety Operation” during the first week of the 2015/2016 school year beginning Tuesday, August 18, 2015 for the Waugh School District and St. Vincent Elementary.

All other Petaluma City Schools and St. Vincent DePaul campuses start on Wednesday, August 19, 2015. The operation will deploy additional police officers, community service officers, and volunteers in and around school zones within the City of Petaluma.

The purpose of this operation is to increase the level of traffic safety in and around the school zones through maximum traffic enforcement of hazardous traffic violations and through an aggressive education campaign to educate students and parents of the importance of traffic safety.

This is the 18th year of the Safe Routes to School operation, which creates safe routes for everyone to get to and from school.

Read more…