The Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Attorneys for 230 drivers who received tickets when cameras allegedly caught them zooming past red lights have asked a judge to throw out the citations because the traffic enforcement program, they say, is faulty.
Lawyers are questioning the technical integrity of the cameras and legality of using only a photograph taken without any witnesses present when the machine clicks. The photos are taken as vehicles approach the camera and the signal light is not shown, added defense attorneys, who want the traffic program in at least a dozen cities statewide dismantled.
Deputy city attorney Jennifer Choi responded that each camera is inspected and adjusted three times weekly by trained technicians from an outside company, PRWT Inc., which is not the company that sells the machines to the city.
Police officers review each photograph, Choi said, and tickets are dismissed if prosecutors or a judge decide that the driver or his license plate cannot be clearly identified.
A decision in the San Francisco case is expected by the end of January.
Meanwhile, drivers photographed running red lights in San Francisco, Sacramento, Santa Rosa and six Southern California cities from 1996 to 1998 could get their money back through a $400,000 settlement announced by lawyers working on an unrelated class-action lawsuit in San Diego.
San Francisco was the first city in the state to use the technology. Since October 1996, San Francisco has installed 27 cameras in 17 intersections downtown and South of Market. Drivers running red lights activate sensors embedded in the road and tickets for $360 are mailed to those who are identified by their license plates.
More than 25,000 motorists have been cited in the city since 1996. The number of accidents attributed to red light runners dropped from 955 in 1996 to 677 in 2002, according to the Department of Parking and Traffic, which runs the red light photo enforcement program.