Does This Look Dangerous to Anyone...

Well, what do you think? Does this look dangerous to anyone; people making right-hand turns during a red light when there are no people in the cross walk and no traffic coming?

Did you say, "No, that's not dangerous at all?"

Well, the pigs in California would disagree. At www.sacbee.com they explain California law regarding right-hand turns during a red light:

1. Right turns on a red light are allowed at most intersections in California - after a full stop.

2. Drivers must stop before the limit line, which is usually the first crosswalk line. Many police will ticket drivers who stop in the crosswalk.

3. Once that stop has been made, the driver may proceed through the crosswalk and onto the crossing street.

4. State vehicle code section 21453 says the driver "shall yield the right-of-way to pedestrians lawfully within an adjacent crosswalk and to any (approaching) vehicle."

5. A driver is not allowed to make the turn if facing a red arrow, rather than a circular red light.

First of all, fuck California law. These are pointless regulations and are not about safety but about control (with the exception of numbers 4 & 5; I would consider 4 safe as long as the person in the crosswalk is far from your car, ie. just starting to cross the street opposite of your car, or is walking slow. As long as you don't nearly hit anyone, who cares?).

The other ones are just pointless, especially when no one is coming. If a person looks quickly and sees no cars coming; no people, why can't they just "roll" through the stop light (or even stop sign), or even inch up to see if cars are coming?

It is because of these dumb laws that innocent people are being extorted by the government.

From the above news website:

Video cams adding cash to coffers
By Tony Bizjak
tbizjak@sacbee.com
Published: Monday, Apr. 20, 2009 - 12:00 am | Page 1A

In Elk Grove, thousands of drivers are chipping in to help balance a city budget that's in the red.

They're doing it by going into the red themselves – running lights at two intersections overseen by new high-tech video enforcement cameras.

In the year since Elk Grove put cameras at two spots on Laguna Boulevard, the city has banked $600,000 in revenue from citations.

Long promoted as safety devices, red-light cameras quietly are becoming modest money-makers in Elk Grove and other California cities, including Marysville and soon possibly Sacramento County.

Elk Grove's cash infusion hasn't come, however, from ticketing traditional red-light runners who drive straight through intersections, or turn left in front of oncoming cars, risking broadside crashes.

Instead, 96 percent of Elk Grove's citations are issued to drivers who make right turns on red without coming to a full stop, according to a review city police conducted at The Bee's request.

That hand count covered a one-week period in late March at both intersections, and represents Elk Grove's first statistical look at what the new cameras are capturing.

In total, the city issued 9,364 red-light tickets in one year at those two intersections.

Elk Grove officials said they aren't out to make money on right-turn violations. Mayor Pat Hume said the city hopes to change driver behavior, which eventually will mean less money into city coffers.

Police Chief Robert Lehner defended the city's emphasis on ticketing right turns. That turn is a complex maneuver, he said, and dangerous to drivers and pedestrians.

The bottom line, Lehner said, is "these are people violating the law."

Some drivers, however, feel unfairly picked on.

Jim Carlson of Sacramento likens the cameras to automated bank teller machines for cities. He recently made a right turn in Elk Grove, at Laguna and Franklin boulevards, en route to pick up donated furniture for his church.

Days later he got a mailed request for a sizable donation of his own – $426 – the fine in Sacramento County for most red-light violations.

A video camera had recorded him turning right on red, and a police officer reviewing the video determined he had not come to a complete stop first.

"I was moving at less than a snail's pace, waiting to see if it was safe to turn," Carlson complained.

Enforcement on the rise

Despite such protests, photo enforcement is on the increase in the Sacramento region, as cities take advantage of a new generation of cameras with right-turn video capability, and higher resolution for clearer photos of drivers' faces.

Elk Grove just added a third video camera, with right-turn enforcement, at Laguna Boulevard and Laguna Springs Drive, the city's most crash-prone intersection. Police will begin citing drivers there later this month.

Roseville is planning to put cameras at four intersections this year.

And, after months of delay, the county and city of Sacramento together plan to install video cameras at 20 intersections in the coming weeks.

The cameras will go up at the same intersections where old still-shot cameras once stood. The old cameras were taken down last fall after a previous camera company contract expired.

Sheriff's officials haven't decided which, if any, cameras will record driver movements in right-turn lanes.

Video cameras are set to record only vehicles whose approach speed indicates they are likely not to stop at the limit line.

"We aren't going to do anything arbitrarily," Sgt. Todd Deluca said. "But if there is a problem and people are being hurt, I absolutely want to do it."

In December, a sheriff's department report projected the new cameras would boost citation revenue 45 percent. Those calculations, however, did not include potential added revenue if officials decide to train the cameras on right-turn lanes.

The report to the Board of Supervisors noted that each $426 ticket brings the county general fund $220 on average. On an annual basis, that could net the county $485,000 after expenses, the report concludes.

NOTE: The above video is from the above website as well.

Thanks to CameraFRAUD.com for the story!