San Diego Housing Bubble News and Analysis

While I dispise red light runners, I dispise the cameras even more.

Fight it and verify the specs are all certified and up to date. I've read so many articles where the cameras have been found to be incorrectly set and the city has no idea how long they've been that way and basically need to recind months worth of tickets.

Looks here for ways to fight

If the fine was a real $300, it would be a little more palletable, but in San Diego and many places, the enforcement of the cameras are outsourced to for profit businesses that get a cut.

I did the same thing - late at night, lost in downtown San Diego, trying to get myself back on track to the airport. Have you ever been lost downtown after dark? Can't see a damn thing or find a place to pull over and get directions - downtown is dead after dark.
Anyway I went to driving school and it was a total wasted day and I went to one called "Comedy" NOT! The teacher was rambling, obnoxious, boring, sarcastic, notfunny, honestly I would have found my time better spent picking up trash on the side of the freeway - or even on the freeway if I could have gotten out of that class.
This is what you do - in the list of driving schools there are online schools, but better yet, call and tell them that you can't manage to attend driving school and you don't have internet access and they will send you the "course" and you can complete it in around an hour or less according to my sister (I heard about this option after I attended the all-day class). The hard copy is better because you can just flip through the book whereas I hear that online you have to keep going back and doing whole sections over when you miss anything.
Or, I also heard that there are "gay" traffic schools and even though I'm not gay I bet that is a lot of fun.
The all-day class is like doing time - and hardly anything is said about traffic laws. I did learn that if you are turning right on a red light and there is a camera, you must stop for at least 3 seconds or you will get ticketed for running the red light.

Don't do the crime if you can't do the time.....Don't do it!

Wasn't that the Baretta theme song?

cardiffbaseball - I have to laugh... arent you the same guy that was saying you prefered people who drove "with a sense of urgency" or something? At least she didnt hold anyone up behind her!

cardifbb, I know the feeling, I emphatize. Have a 21-year-old-only-child-son baby who went partying in L.A. a few months ago. He did 98 mph on 65-mph highway between San Diego and L.A. with his brand new Ford truck we just bought him with love. We wrote a check and paid close to $400 to solve his traffic problem for him. His punishment after a day of recriminations and emotional guilt-trips? More hugs and kisses for him for being an only child. We suck as parents, I guess. Ha-ha... That's what loving and over-indulgent parents get, I guess.

Here in Henderson, NV, the tickets for speeding in a school zone come in 2 flavors: $800 and $1,200. Speed limit is 15MPH for all school zones. A crossing guard friend tipped me to this, so I have trained my kids to ask, Dad - do you want to pay eight hundred or twelve hundred for this one? It slows me down to a crawl every time!

Hmmm... I'm torn. I do believe we need traffic laws, and penalties that are firm enough to enforce said laws. But the penalties need to be fair.

I've gotten a few parking tickets in my day, and the prices were ridiculous. I guess it depends as a society what we expect traffic penalties to be for. A deterant? In that case, they should be steep fines? A punishment? Probably not so much. A source of revenue for the city? Gosh, I hope not (not sure how San Diego works, but the city I grew up in in Minnesota routinely made more stops at the end of the month so that the cops could hit their ticket quotas...)

From talking to her, there is no need to fight it. She said it turned red, and she just brain farted and felt lucky nothing happened.

Still what a scam.

Oh and yes Lostkitty, I still can't stand the person who can't seem to keep up with the flow of traffic. Usually 2 or 3 of them get back to back and one lane just flows.

Apparently Encinitas coppers put up another one at Leucadia/El Camino Real. My solution will be to simply take neighborhood streets. I might even post some alternative maps on a web site. Not that I have run any lights, but mostly just to piss off LE.

take the traffic school and get it over with. If you don't the insurance company has another surprise for ya'! The wife had a fender bender and I got the RLT and my insurance rates doubled. Don't take it lightly! The RLC's suck but fighting it means waiting in lines at the court window and at least a day of your time. I thought I would fight it and went down to El Cajon traffic court and the line at the initial window was worse than a Fry's checkout on black friday. Take your lumps and don't do it again. But I'm with Turko "IT JUST AIN'T RIGHT!' Nice pictures though ain't they?

What if they set up automated speed traps on the freeway, similar to red light cameras ?

That would really suck.

I am thrilled they put a camera at Leucadia/El Camino REal in Encinitas. I have seen numerous accidents there and at least 3 were fatal accidents over the last several years. The camera just might have saved my life. I drive through that light a few times a day and pushed through many a yellow light before the camera went up. Now I stop no matter what as soon as it turns yellow.

I dont know the story behind all the cameras but at least one was installed for a very good reason.

For penalties, I like the Scandavian model.

They look at your previous years tax return and the penalty is set as a percentage of your gross income.

A person making $20,000 a year gets a ticket for $100 for a red light, while the executives in Newport Beach would get a fine for $5,000.

Phoenix has the automated speed traps, they are on the 101 loop where they've had problems with excessive speeds.

I'm not sure the 15 couldn't use some.

My main problem with the red light cameras is they take in no account of the traffic situation. For example, I have a small touring car and a larger SUV. When in my little car, I'm very aware that I stop really fast however the Ford Expedition behind me with the driver on the cell phone can't. It affects my decision as the light turn yellow.

Well the one at Leucadia/El Camino Real that worries me is the simple right turn. I was taking the little one to basketball practice at LCC the other day, and don't know if I waited 3 seconds at the red light to make the turn. I basically halted, so that I had an easy right turn with nothing coming and turned, but I don't think I waited 3 seconds.

I am told people over by the airport are getting burned on those and that seems like nonsense to me. I understand not wanting red-light runners through the intersection, and in particular left turn lanes but to kill the right turn people borders on money grubbing scam.

"to kill the right turn people borders on money grubbing scam."

Maybe it is an area where people/bikes have a crosswalk, and the 3 second rule would make a lot of sense. They aren't "killing" the right turn people, just slowing them down a few measly seconds for SAFETY. Jeez.

Nancy_s soothsayer, you suck as parents for sure, not I guess. You buy your son a brand new truck and also write a check to solve his traffic problem. Did he work for this truck, or just have it handed to him? Can you say "spoiled brat"? I think a belt to his ass was needed, not a bail out check. 98 MPH. Hmmm, he could have killed himself, or worse, killed some innocent person. When do you plan to let this grown man stand on his own two feet? He'll get a reality check one day when Mom and Dad can't fix his problem.

CardiffBaseball, you get no sympathy from me. Yeah, big oops. I witnessed what can happen when someone runs a red light. A lady ran a light and T-boned a van with a mom and her kids inside. Bad accident. Hopefully your wife will stay off the cellphone and drive sensible.

Oh I never said she didn't deserve the ticket. I am just surprised at how damn much it costs. Damn sure preventative, and hell why not just charge $1000.

Thanks for assuming she was on the cell phone, which she wasn't. Can I assume you have an unkept beard, are overweight and lacking in manhood-overcompensating, harley rider?

Also way to go on bashing the other person's parenting skills. I am sure you are a model parent.

CardiffBaseball, I'm overly sensitive to traffic violators because in 2005 a lady turned left into a group of cyclists and took out 3 of the 4 riders. I was the lead rider and my left patella was shattered, requiring three surgeries and leaving me 19% permanently impaired in that leg. Lady never saw us and yes, she was on the phone. We had the 'right of way' (yep, dead right), but that didn't help us much. Two of my buddies didn't fair much better, one getting both arms broken. The lady got a ticket of 'failing to yeild right of way'. Should have been attempted murder if you ask me. And as to parenting, I would probably suck as a parent. But, I don't have any children. I just critique other parents. Kind of like watching a chess game, looking over the player's shoulder you see all the moves they are missing.

I'm still interested to hear if people think that traffic penalties should be punative, a deterrant, a revenue source, or some combination therein?

I think people dislike traffic cameras because of the "Big Brother" nature, and they're always present. At least with live police officers it's a bit like a game. "Oh, you caught me!". Alternatively, in the case of an officer, you can direct your anger towards the cop, rather than towards society as a whole, or at the person driving the car.

BikeRider, I am curious but it would seem said lady could have been sued. Not that it gets your leg back the way it should be. In any case, one other item here is the profit motive for the company that puts these systems in place which of course drives up the cost of the ticket.

When I finally got around to getting a California License and plates (ignored the 20 day rule), I was leaving the Genessee DMV, and watched someone right beside me miss the light and crunch someone turning left into the intersection. Luckily no passenger in the car turning, so no injury. This person wasn't merely late into the intersection, there was a good 2 seconds, they just flat didn't look. Right in front of DMV so cops everywhere.

Studies have shown that the 'red light' cameras increase accidents, as folks suddenly slam on brakes for fear of running the light and getting a ticket.

Ridiculous, ~$300-400 for a ticket.

Lovely, the conflicts of interest that we have to put up with with government (generating revenue under guise of 'public safety').

Lord knows that the only lawyer that I love is my (no longer in practice) wife, but they sure are useful to provide deterrent/punitive action in ridiculous cases.

My idea for highways and streets: assign specific patrolmen responsibility for specific sections of highway or roads, and have them get paid on (1) flow of traffic (higher = better) and (2) injuries, fatalities, and property damage (lower = better). It's idiotic how much garbage is on the roads (causing flats) and it's idiotic how long it takes cops to clear accidents. Give 'em an incentive to keep the roads clear, safe, and moving.

CardiffBaseball, yes, there was a lawsuit. We all sued her insurance company. It took one year to settle. It takes a long time to go through this type of lawsuit. For one, you have to heal as much as possible, so everyone knows just how bad you are hurt. They base a settlement on the percent of impairment due to the injury. Luckily for all of us, she had a lot of insurance. Three injured riders all at once. The whole experience was a real learning experience. One, I found out that my wife and I had been very under insured. You just don't think about bad things that can happen and how you need to protect yourself and your assets. If this lady had been an uninsured driver we wouldn't had gotten much, because we weren't carrying very high limits at the time. We fixed that. Two, I found out why you should have long term disability insurance. As it was, I had short term insurance through work and it was enough to cover my expenses while I was out of work. If my neck had been broken..... man that would have been bad. Of course the settlement reimbursed all expenses, plus some more $$. As you said, the money doesn't give me my knee back and I'd rather have my knee working at 100%. The car hit me and my buddies said I went about fifteen feet in the air, spinning like a top. I landed down the road in the ditch. Looked down and where my knee cap used to be was a big dent. I couldn't get up and both of my legs hurt something awful. Ended up that both knees were hit, but the right knee just had a deep bone bruise and a fracture. The left patella was busted into a bunch of little pieces. The doc put the three biggest pieces back together with pins and wire. I'm 47 now (almost 48), I was 46 at the time. I did road riding to train for mountain bike races. Endurance stuff just for fun. I wasn't real fast, but could ride for long periods, so was doing 12 hour solo races and 24 hour races. The accident destroyed the cartiledge in my knee, so instant arthritis is the result. I am back cycling again, but not the level as before the accident. I didn't get enough money out of the settlement to retire (not serious enough injury), but it did give us a nice nest egg. We were already in pretty good shape, so it just made things better. But now there are things I can't do. I used to run marathons. Not anymore. I can't run. Can't squat. The knee just won't bend enough. My knee just doesn't work right anymore. I can cycle, but only because I wouldn't believe the doctor when he said I wouldn't ever ride again. I made my knee do it. The last time I saw the doctor he told me that he was amazed at my recovery. After the first surgery my knee wouldn't bend enough to allow a full spin of my bike crank. I would hook my feet under my weight bench and grab my weight rack and force my leg to bend. Tears in the eyes, but over time I got the tendons to stretch back out (or whatever was breaking loose in there). Plus going to physical therapy two days a week for months. It was so much pain involved with recovery, you wouldn't know. I doubt I will ever race again, though I am going to try someday. I just had my third surgery this past September, so time will tell. I did not know how long it takes to recover from a serious injury. I had never broken anything until that day. All I can say is don't ever injure a joint. They don't mend like just breaking a bone.

Do you really need a $350 fine to persuade you not to run a red light. I know the real motivation is not colliding with whoever might be travelling in the opposite direction. So whats the real motivation of having a camera. It might be a misguided belief that more people will stop but I have my doubts.

I remember reading in the OC register one time about how much money the camera makes daily in San Juan Capistrano (got me one time). I don't remember but it was unbelievable.

Everyone wants a simple fix to have the perfect world but it doesn't work that way. Regardless of the laws passed and different means of enforcing them, the same percentage of people are going to do good as well as the percentage of people doing bad.

How many people make 35k a year? We need to fine them 10% of their monthly pretax income to get their attention. I don't think so. It's crazy.