West Hollywood to Ask Judge to Uphold Tickets Issued by Cameras

Lawyers for West Hollywood will ask a judge today to stop dismissing tickets issued by red light cameras at seven intersections where thousands of motorists have been cited.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Commissioner Hugh Bobys dismissed the $271 tickets last week after ruling that motorists were being unfairly cited because the yellow light turned to red after just 3.5 seconds -- one-tenth of a second less than state law requires.

The city was supposed to follow a rule that went into effect Jan. 1, 2002, but failed to give motorists the extra split second until October 2002, officials said.

The citations in question involve violations of red light cameras at Beverly and Robertson boulevards; La Cienega and Sunset boulevards; Santa Monica Boulevard at Fairfax and La Brea avenues; and Fountain Avenue at Crescent Heights Boulevard, Fairfax and La Brea.

Last year, 19,654 tickets were issued at those intersections.

The ruling comes a month after a Los Angeles judge vacated more than 2,000 tickets when authorities learned that a red light camera at a busy East Los Angeles intersection was snapping pictures of drivers while the light was still yellow.

Unlike officials in the earlier case, West Hollywood officials say they have no plans to review closed cases and refund fines, which could amount to millions of dollars.

“The city will argue the violations still took place and they are legitimate tickets,” prosecutor William Litvak said.

But advocates say that if there was a problem, no one should have had to pay the $271 fine.

“The government has a duty to refund the money of innocent citizens who are wrongly convicted,” said San Diego lawyer Arthur Tait, who specializes in red light camera cases.

Litvak downplayed the city’s culpability, saying the California Department of Transportation had revised its guidelines for yellow light intervals without updating its manual.

West Hollywood did not learn of the revisions until last October.

Since January 2002, West Hollywood and other government entities have been required by law to follow the Caltrans guidelines.

City officials extended yellow lights to 3.6 seconds in October.

“It was not necessarily because we felt it was wrong,” Litvak said.

Bobys could not be reached for comment.

“He just changed the way he interpreted the law,” said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Zenon Porche, who is in charge of the red light cameras in West Hollywood and testifies regularly in Bobys’ courtroom.

Porche said he was surprised by the ruling.

“Somebody presented the same argument we have heard over and over” about the length of the yellow light, he said.

But Bobys dismissed that case and the others that followed it, potentially opening the courthouse doors to more ticket contests.

Eric Skrum, a spokesman for the Wisconsin-based National Motorists Assn., advised anyone who got a ticket at one of the seven intersections to consult a lawyer and seek legal recourse. He also suggested that motorists call state and local elected officials to complain.

Most offenders “are not purposefully running the red light, but are not given enough time to respond to it,” Skrum said.

The traffic ticket dismissals came about the same time that Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge David Sotelo urged colleagues in an e-mail to take a closer look at such cases.

Last month, Sotelo vacated more than 2,000 traffic convictions and dismissed an additional 758 cases involving motorists ticketed at the intersection of Atlantic and Whittier avenues in East Los Angeles.

Sotelo also ordered Los Angeles County to refund fines paid by 2,014 motorists.